Skip to main content

Full text of "Amiga Shopper - Issue 66 (1996-09)(Future Publishing)(GB)"

See other formats 


1 



eptember 1996 £4.50'us $9*95 



AU accelerators are 
„ot the same -read 

our review and find 



CUTgjlllll Animt IfflMI MUt-H 



•WT5Sc srssi wna 



MCiilt: prKlIk*: 



fss£ vi^ teier 



J^^J;_^J 



QUARTERDECK 

Full details on page 8 



Inside this issue 



• Software for free - we take a look at the vast amount 
of quality software available for free, or at least for a 
modest Shareware fee. 

• GVP 68060 reviewed. The in depth review you need 
to read before you spend your money. 

• Monument Designer - one of ProDAD's most 
important titles, and it's never been seen before! 

• DAT drives - are they yesterday's technology or a 
useful addition to your storage arsenal. 

• ImageFX 2.5 - latest version of the increasingly 
popular image manipulator on test inside. 

• HiSoft Basic: We continue our hugely popular tutorial 
on a much underrated programming language. 

• Zeus: the revolutionary package for BBSs. 

• Amiga Answers: You have the problems, our experts 
have the solutions. 



^ r"«" 



Wl 



With th 






ow officially 



urce in the worlds 
obtain all the s^^ 

" ^er needrfor free. 



^uu 



J 



^^jiiii' 



1 1 t^^xH ^ r} ir r^TTF 



titling pac 



trans 
Englis 






has 
foe^n 
into 
out 



'i'7 iFi ■ 1 1 M 'A^i^ i* 






's best 
;ret 



4 

akers of l . 


Mfl^% .M 




^VQ£^ 


1 uiure 

1 p-iBLrstrmD 


rOfMAT 





WHILE-U-WAIT!! 



\ 



That's ' 
a promise 
for computers! 



/ 



COMPUTERS AND MONITORS 

NEVf LOVf FIXED PRICE 



Attention Dealers 

Ring/Fax Nov^ for best trade prices 

and terms on Repairs, Spares, Floppy 

Drives, Hard Drives, CD Rom Drives 

and Memory Upgrades, 




» FAST TURNAROUND 

- 90 DAYS WARRANTY ON ALL REPAIRS!! 

• £10 EXTRA CHARGE FOR WHILE-U-WAIT SERVICE 

- COURIER CHARGES £7.05 EACH WAV 

» A1 5OO/A2000/A3000/A4OOO EQUOTATION 



A500, A500+ & A600 



{}9<95 W>K 



A1900 



2-5" HARD DRIVES 

For A600 & A1 200 

60Mb £59.95 120Mb ... .£79-95 250Mb ..£129-95 540Mb .. £199.95 

80Mb £69-95 170Mb ....£99-95 340Mb ..£149-95 810Mb ..£249.95 

All hard drives arc pre-formatted, partitioned with Workbench 
loaded and include 2 5" IDE cable and software 

2-5" IDE Cable and Software (if bousht separately) £9-95 



ACCELERATORS 



Apollo 1220 . £99-95 

SIMMS . . £POA 



MODEMS 

BABT APPROVED & 
NCOMM SOnWARE 

14.4k £69.95 

28.8k . . . £149.95 



SIMPLY THE BEST AFTER- 




Upgrade to t Meg 




UNBEATABLE 
PRICES 



A1900 



EiiMMi FN pint crrtM atfs 




INTERNAL FLOPPY DRIVES 

A500/A500+ £29-95 A600/A1 200 . , .£34-95 



ffMITfiR 



CD ROM 



Genlocks 



Hama 292 . . £28000 



sq""^. QUAD SPEED -ic» 

^ mm^^ ^^ L500 £69-95 

SCSI 11111 

Interface 



nti! 



£195.00 



L1S00 £16995 

L2000S . . . £149.95 



CHIPS ^ SPARES ^ ACCESSORIES 



Weg Fnftet Agnus 

2 Weg Fetter Agnus 

8362 Denise 

83/3 Super Denise 

5719 Gory 

8520 CIAA5O0/A5O0+ 

8364 Paula ASOO/ASOO-f .... 

Kickstart ROM 1-3 

KicicstartROM 2-04 

Ki{kstartROM 2-OS 

A5DO/A50O+ Keyboard 

6570 Keyboard Chip 

68000 Processor 

Power Supply A500/A600/A1 200. 
Exchange A2000/A1 500 PowBf Supply . 

* All chips are availa 

* Please call for any 



.E19 

£24 
..£9 
.£18 
..£7 
.£15 

£12 
.£15 
.£22 
,£29 
.£50 
.£20 
..£8 
.£35 
.£/0 

ble ex 

cKip o 



00 
00 
00 
00 
50 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 



8520 CIA A600/A1200 £1450 

8374 Alice A1200 £30-00 

8364 Pnuin A600/A1200 £16-50 

Video DACAI200 £19-00 

A600/A1200Keybootd £60-00 

Lisa A1200 ...£35-00 

GayleA600/A1200 £25 00 

Budgie A1200 £30-00 

Mouse (290dpi) £15-00 

SCARllead £15-00 

Mouse Mot £4-00 

10 Boxed Branded Disks £6 00 

Printer Coble £6-00 

100 Disk Box £7-00 

SquirfelSCSI Interfoce £5900 

-slock 

r spore not listed here 



SPECIAL 
OFFER 



I A1 200 without harcJ drive £299-95 

:::!1-^A1200 witli 80Mb hard drive £349-95 

A1 200 with 170Mb hard drive £379-95 



A1 200 with 340Mb hard drive £429-95 

A1200 with 510Mb Inard drive £499-95 

* Call for more good deals 



^M^hS^iP Analojic Computers (UK) Ltd S" ""i "^ «ff "iiJ^J" lj«'5,"»''" '» '"Jm;,'"; 

;l^tLOficr„'i.'::!S::^rr.''?„rs?iHH Tcb 0181 546 9575 



* All prices include vat * All prices & specifications subject to change without notice * Fixed charge for repair does not include disk drive/ticirtjoard 

* We reserve the right to' refuse any repair ■* P&P charges £3-50 by Royal Mail or £7.05 for courier * Please allow 5 working days for cheque clearance 

* All saies are only as per our terms and conditions of sale, copy available on request. 



Who's Who 



Editorial 



er Welcome 



magajiHie for Arrnga enlhusidsts 




Contultwit EdHor: Nick Vertch 
Sub £dlton Andrea Ball 
Art Editor: Todd Anderson 



Sue Grant, Dale Hemenway, Larfy Hickrrwtt Danen trvine, 

John Kennedy. Steve Liddte. Paut Ovefaa, Graeme Sandiford, Gary 

Wliftdey, Steve Bye. Linda Benson, Ben Vosl. Nick AspeU, Emma 

ParkiT-son, Clare Johnson 

Photography: R:.:; Si-yj'.\ 

Adv«rti»e<m«nt M«iag*r: Diane CIvke 

Sales Executive: ■ -'.Hn Watkins 

Production Manager; Rtchard Gmgell 

Production Co-ordinalorti Charlotte Brock 

Production Techniciarw: Jon Moore, Mark Gover. 

S^'";"..' -V i;:.', ■, C- ■ ■ S'^fH-e', Brian Hook, JasonTrtley 

ni^d Oliver- Gibbi. 

Groufi Production ManAg*r: Judith Green 

Print Services Manager: MdHhew Parker 

Print Servicer Co-ordinator: Janel Andenson 

Paper Controllar: ^ -j'-a Dcane 

Production Admlnlsteolpr: Cathy Rowland 

Ctrculation ManngeR Jon Bickley 

Distribution: -H. in ley 

Over»ai Ucences: Mark Williams v 0171 331 3920 

Pubiislwr: . - ui Stan^'i^ld E-nuN ^stansfield© iutureneLco.uk 

Managing EHrvctor. Greg ingha^n 

Chairman^ H-ck Alexander 

Printad Ivy: Southemprmt Ltd,. Rsole, Do"if^t 
JSSN 096 1 -7302 Pr.nted ^n the UK 



Future Rjblishmg « 01235 443244 




uiure 



' - s magwmfl corTws from Fulure F\»tA*hii>ft t 
■tmpiny tourtdod fust 10 years ago, bul now 
,4^11' ng mote qon^hw rragannes tli*n any olhw 
i<'.it3l>sh«i m Stitaitt. 



Btnw *rttrt<s*i O\j0 tilfes «re p*clc«d wlh lips. iug(^t)0<is tnd mplanalory 

Strong** r«irt*WL 'iSto haw ■ cwt-von policy of edilonal indApandance. and 

'>Mi buyw^ rocomnmaMabons. 
Cl*ar*r d*aHin. ^'^^i n««d vM intormabon and you ncM i1 fast. So our 
cpf.ijr'eii '■ 3r(\ j":! key ((Je*nents ^ Vn arlicias by usmg diarls, dagonv 
ummary brup-,. ainotaled photographj and so on. 
Qraator TwAw n wtom. M F-iAut^ Athtors operate undet two golden rules 
1 Undersland your leaders' needs. 2. Satisfy (hem 

L, Wa draw sbongly on readers' comlnbutioflv 
. -he i-ifeiiesi le^^er^ pagcs- an<j |he bail raadaf tips, 
ilue tor mon^f, '■Jo'^ p<>^^s baiter quality: mags you CMt\ (rust 

Copyriflfrt c i««« Futwr* PuMtahtaig Ud No pari of Ihis maga2«w 
"■ay bfl rpprodjced without wnflen pe'm>snoo We welco*«e cofrttibuljons for 
pub>iCAtiO<n but 'eg'st t^ial w« canoal relu'n any submissHins. Conlribu'Uons ara 
accepted only on Ihe bavs of fuD asugnmeni o' cop>-rrght to- Fulu-? Publishing 
Any conespondaoca will be conatdnrad f o* pijb> ■ .■: ,.!■ < , ' -i v 

state olher'wse, and we reserve Ihe righl lo c'^i' i 

Ww uill of llM AudH Bureau of CIrcuiation 

Audited circulation July to December 1995: 16,473 




VIScorp have once more emphasised their commitment 
to the Amiga and in the meantime we all soldier on. 



E earlier this month VIScorp 
announced that they have set 
up an Architectural Design 
Group consisting of a small 
number of Amiga experts. 
These experts are going to oversee 
development to ensure that all the 
enhancements necessary for the long 
term success of the Amiga are 
addressed. These advancements w\\[ be 
used not only for 
VIScorp's set-top 
boxes but also for 
Amiga desktops. 
Does this mean 
that we won't be 
seeing a Povi^erPC 
Amiga? That 
remains to be seen 
as does v/hether 
the Amiga will be 
licensed to third 
parties for other developments. 

While all this goes on, we must sit on 
the sidelines and hope that the advances 
come quickly enough to save the Amiga 
and to re-establish its following. With the 
uncertainty still evident, we are aware 
that lots of people don't want to shell out 
for more software if they are not sure 
about their machine having a solid future. 




How to contact Amiga Shopper 



EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING: 

30 Monmouth Street. Bafh. Avon BAl 2BW. 
7101325 442244 Fax; 01225 446019. 
E-maa; annshopp€r@cix.compulink.co.LJ)< 

EDITORIAL: Send all press releases, feature 

submissions and ideas to Nid< Veitcti or Andrea Ball. 
E-ni«ll: abai('3;'futurenet.co.uk 

COVERDtSKS: K you have a con^bution, commercial 
Of othervjise, thai you would like to submit for 
consideraton foe the Coverdisks. sertd it to Nick VeitcJi. 

READER ENQUIRIES: Unfortur^ately due to staff 
shortages Amiga Shopper is no longer available lor 
phone enquiries. We apologise for any jnconvenierce 
this may cause. 

FirnjRENET: You can also contact js, or browse 

through a selection of Amiga articles, tutorials etc. on 
FutureNet Pornt your WWW browser at: 

http ://www.f utu re neLco.uk 



ADVERnSINQ: If you want to place an 

advertisement in Amiga Shopper, contact Diane 

Cla-ke or Helen Watkins on » 01225 442244, 

E-mail diclarke>Jii''futurenet.coLK 

ADVERTISING COMPLAIPfTS: 

If you fiave a complaint about an advertiser in 

Amiga Shopper, then contact Sophie Collins on 

tt 01225 442244. 

E-mail mop siSifu turenet.co.uk 

CUSTOMER SERVICES: 1? 225 832510 
SUBSCRIPTIONS/ BACK ISSUES: 

Call our hotline number oelow for a subscription to 
Amiga Shopper (or a back issue). If you already have 
a subscription, but have a query, write to: 
Future Publishing Ltd. FREEPOST (BS490O), 
Somerfon TA1 1 6BR, o. ■ff 01225 82251 t. 



I aubkcriptian rata; The subscription rate 

for 12 issues of Amiga Shopper including postage is 
£51 (UK), £58.92 (EC), £71,52 (Rest Of World). 



Issue 68 I 



September 1996 



We believe that such users shouldn't be 
deprived from using their Amiga for 
serious purposes and we have taken this 
opportunity to round up all the very best 
free and nearly free software from the 
Public Domain and Shareware scene. 
Every area of software has been 
thoroughly researched and we will show 
you which products are suitable for your 
specific purposes so that you can do 
anything from write a novel to create a 
morphing animation! 

In the rest of the issue, we've got all 
the usual tutonais, Amiga Answers has 
got all the solutions to your problems 
and we've got all the reviews of the new 
PD, You've got some of the best PD 
available on the Coverdisk which is jam 
packed with goodies. There's a stock 
market monitor, a print enhancement 
package and a structured drawing tool - 
turn to the Coverdisk pages for more 
information. 

Reviews are not thin on the ground 
either; there's a special report on the 
state of the storage market with the 
arrival of a new DAT drive. Image FX 2,6 
has been released and we look at what 
new features it offers. On the hardware 
front, A4000 owners can marvel at the 
power of the 4060 board which can 
upgrade what was once the top of the 
line machine. There's also a new video 
titling package, a new word processor 
and a new version of Clarissa, And to 
round it all off, we've got the best new 
releases in the CD market for you too. 
Let's get stuck in! 




Taylor 
Editor 



Turn the page for the 
contents of issue 66 



AmoAi 



CLOCK CARTRIDGE 



Out unique and h^lj rated external Clock 
Cartndge will en^e your Amiga to continual 
store the correct time ant) date in its own j 
battery backed memory. Simpfy plugs onto the 1 
back of the Amiga and does not invalidate the J 
warranty. I 

Compatible with Aa Amtgas I 





DATAFLYER SCSI+ 

Now indudes CD ROM drivers and instructions. 

The Oataflyer is a 16 bit SCSI ll comrolter card that converts the signals on 
I the intern^ IDE interface to also run SCSI devices at the same time as the 
i IDE hard dnve. 

1 The Dataflyer SCSI+ will operate up to 5 SCSI devices such as CWWMS. 
ft hard drives, Syquest removable drives, tape back up drives etc. Unlike 
S other SCSI interfaces, the Datatlyer SCSI+ is compatible with all known 
B acoeferatofs etc and it does not stop you from utilising any of the 
important eicpansion ports on your A12(30/A6CIO. The Oataflyer SCSit 
easily installs into the A1200/A600 (simply pushes in, no need to remove 
the metal shield) and provides a 25 way D connector through tiie blanking plate at the back 
Of the A1200. Full kistructicms sml software supplied. 



SURF SQUIRREL RRP £99.99 



sfiLBpm 




DISCOLOGY 



Oiscdogy is the ultimate in disk copying power for the 

Amiga. The packags comprises the Discotogy Disk, 

manual and Discology caftrtdfie for making copies of 

heavily protected programs with an external disk 

dnve. Discoid© will also formal dis*(s. check disks 

for errors etc. 

PLEASE PHONE FOR A FULL ^FORMATION SHEET 



£19.99 EACH 

OR BUY 



DATAFLYER SCSI+ ONLY £69.99 

SQUIRREL SCSI INTERFACE 
ALSO AVAILABLE £59.99 

PCIVICIA fJHing SCSI interface 



:.* 



EZ DRIVES 



Incredibly fast iupto 4i faster than a ZIP dnve) SCSI drive Mil store 
La massive 135mb per cartridge. Comes complete with power 
I supply, SCSI cable, instrijctKjns and cartndge. 

■ THE ULTIMATE REMOVABLE D^IVE 



bff6« 



FOR £24.99 



DRIVES 



wtth^ 
a Squirrel of Dataflyar 




NTIVIRUS 

' Anti Virus Professional Is llie most povirerful 
tool lor detecting and removing viruses, Anti 
Virus pro will check and device hard drives, 
floppy disks and even CD ROM drives fof 
viruses. Very straigjit forward to use. includes a 
full 50 piifif- miinufil. 

ORDER NOW BEFORE A VIRUS 
DESTROYS YOUR SYSTEM 111 

PLEASE PHONE FOR A FULL INFORMATION SHEET 



ASIM CDFS 3.6 

This bupeib pHtki^t; i^ d iiiubl lui any COfiOM user Includes CD32 & CDTV emulation, audio CO 
player software including libranan features. Direct reading of 16 bit audio samples, fiil 
support for Kodak and Corel Photo CD Discs. Includes the nSHyARKET" CDROM disk packed with 
public domain Fred Fish disks and a huge 115 page infomialion packed spiral bound manual. 



SPEED 
MODEMS 



Our highly rated, tap quality feature packed modems arc ideal for Amiga 
users. All modems include our 

FREE MODEM ACCESSORIES PACK (worth ) which indudes 

a caWe to connect the modem to the Amiga. NCOMM comms software, 
^, Amiga Guide to Comms and a list of Bullebn Boards from 
y which you will be able to download vast amounts of free 
V software as well as have access to EfiilAlL facilities. 





I mv 24 Error Correction 
• MNP 5 Data Compression 
• Fai Class 1 and II 
compatible, Group 3 
• Hayes CompatiWe 
• Full 80 page manu^ 
^ • 12 lylonths guarantee 



SPEEDCOM+B 

(14,400 V32bis) 

ONLY £79.99 



SPEEDCOM-t-BF (28,800 V34) RRP £159 




2.5" HARD 
DRIVES 

Our ^ speed 2.5' IDE hard Awes fer me Amiga AUOO & 
A600 computef^ come complete with fitting caWe, sinews, 
partitiodiag software, til instructions and 12 months guar- 
antee. All dnves supplied tiy us are formatted, 
partitionetl and have WorMiench 1WB2 for the A600 and 
WB3 tw me A1200J instaled for ~ 
immediate use. Fining Is 
incredibly simple: il ^ can plug i 
the mouse into U-ie mouse ' 
sochet, you can plug me hard 
dr« mto the hard drive socket, i 
PLEASE PHONE HRST! k 

WAITFITT1NG 

SERVKEFOR 

PERSONAL CALLERS 

FREE 'HOW TO FIT YOUR HARODRIVE' 



■w f>r{Ji-ri''l 



ftrrh«.-''3 c<ipacrty wilti 



ULTRA CD ROM DRIVE 

Superb COROfvl drn*e system tor the A120O. 

Fully featured, top quality drives in a top 

quality enclosure with built in power supply. 

All cables, instructions, software etc.. 
Included for immediate use. The CD-ROM 
interface supply plugs inside A1200 
(exceptionally easy to frt by anybody) and 
provides 
connector In the blanking plate sti 
the rear Of the A12O0, next to the moose socket. J 

PLEASE PHONE FOR fVRTMER DETAILS AND 
INFORMATION SHEET 



ULTRA 4 SPEED £169.99 
ULTRA 6 SPEED £219.99 
ULTRA 8 SPEED £259.99 




250mb RRP £134.99 



340mb £169.99 
540nib £214.99 



A500 H^d Drive 
Inter^M^ £79.99 



APOLLO A1200 
ACCELERATORS 



APOLLO 1220 

Amazing power lor such a low price. 
This supert] accelerator uses a 
68020 running a« 28h? and comes , 
complete wim a 68882 FPU toi 
enable your A1200 lo run at B J 
MIF>S (million instfutlions per 
second)! Uses standard 72 pm i 
SIMMS and Includes a battery i 
backed cloch. 
Simple trapdoor fitting. i 




SCSI CD 
ROM DRIVES 

MEDIAVISION 'RENO' 

Douljli; speed CD ROM DRIVt compltte With 
power supply, SCSI cables, docking station and 
full instructions. Also includes stereo 
headphones and carrying case for use as 
per^lnal CD player. 



RENO CD WITH 5^: 

SQUIRREL RRP £164.99 '^' 



^.99 



RENO CD WITH 5^£ 

DATAFLYER RRP £174.99 



59.99 



APOLLO 1220 ONLY £99.99 



APOLLO 1220 +4nib RRP £179 



^ei 



PANASONIC 
CD ROM DRIVES 

Amafing value exlornal SCSI CD ROM 
drive in a lop quality enclosure. 






APOLLO 1240/60 

68040/6806(HMMU based A1200 aojelerator. Features 
battery bacted ctock and a 72 pm socket for a standard 72 
pin simm (up (o 128n^). Fully featured, fan cooled Irapdoor 
fMing acceleraloi. . 



PANASONIC SIX 
SPEED CD ROM DRIVE 
WITH SQUIRREL OR DATAFLYER -^^^ 
RRP £239.99 -^^ 




PANASONIC DUAL SPEED CD ROM DRIVE 
WITH SQUIRREL OR DATAFLYER RRP £159.99 



ZIP DRIVES 



APOLLO 1240/25nihz 



W^pp>m 



APOLLO 1240/40mhz £449.99 

APOLLO 1260/50mhz £574,99 

1240/1260 SCSI interface £79.99 

4mb SIMM £49.99 

Smb SIMM £79.99 

16mb SIMM £149.99 gWJffTinflgg® (a 



I 



Higlily ratol SCSI tlrrre wiil store j 
I lOOml) per cwlridge. Comes 
\ Comptele wim power supply, 
SCSI caUe, mstiuctiixs and 
, cartridge. 



RRP £189 



^fiLspm 




)R with' 

' a Squirrel or Dataflyer 



lOOmb ZIP cartridge £15.99 



No. 

FOR MAIL ORDER 

~' No.1 

FOR AMIGA 
IN MANCHESTER 

Order NOW for 
Hate despatch 



r 1 I f \ \ H 



(credit/switch card sales only) 
for enquiries 

tel: 0161 796 5279 

fax: 0161 796 3208 

Setid cheques or 

postal orders 
(made iiayable to 
, Siren Software) 

or credit card details to:- 

SIREN 
SOFTWARE, 

178 BURY NEW RD, 
WHITEFIELD, 
MANCHESTER 
M45 6QF, 
ENGLAND 

Access, Visa, Switcfi. Delta. 
Connect etc accepted 

OPEN: 

Monday to Friday Sam to Gpni 
Saturday Sam to 12pm 

Personal callers 
welcome. 

Please phone first to 

check availability 

of any item. 

DIRECTIONS: 

Frofn the M62 Junction 17 

head towards Bury. 

We are 50 yards on 

the right hand side after 

the third set of lights. 

The door to our premises 

is next to the 

florists opposite 

the Masons Pub. 



aspi^syriu^r 



pnces include VAT. Postage aiw packing 
mil be cnaged bI £3.50 per order rU.K.). 
£7.50 Europe and £12.50 rest of Bie viortd 



ShopperContents 



September 1996 



Issue 66 



The essential magazine for Amiga enthusiasts 




15 



ShopperFeatures 



Public Domain 

The Amiga has by far the largest PD scene of 
any computer, easily ejtceeding that of the Apple 
Mac and the PC. 

David Taylor uses the pages of this 
extensive feature to examine the success of 
PD and Shareware on the Amiga. He also takes 
a look at exactly how much software you can 
actually get for free. 



DAT's the way 
to do it. 



46 

Ben Vost examines a little known but extremely 
effective route for people who like to back up 
their data quickly and regularly - DAT drives 
aren't just for the music industry. 



ShopperReviews 



Final Writer 5 



22 



The word processing wars will never end or at 
least not while Digita and Softwood keep 
bnnging out new versions of their WP programs. 
This month Larry HIckmott surveys the 
battlefield with the aid of the latest version of 
Final Writer. 



GVP 68060 



24 



Power computing have unleashed a new 
competitor in the A4000 '060 accelerator 
stakes. Our own Simon N Goodwin tried it 

out to see whether it can really match the 
opposition in the speed, versatility and 
reliability stakes. 



■«>«4««nt - »l«(fi« 




lhr«»-to Lnl^-«r«d l,r*>l [X 


1 "ill'Tll 


w\ 




^^w 




I-, ?. na 





Monument Designer: This excellent video titling 
package has just crossed the Channel. 




Os( Drive: It's not commonly used but there are 
certainly plenty of advantages. 



Monument 
Designer 



28 



Once only available in German. ProDAD's 
tremendous titling software has finally reached 
the UK. Graeme Sandiford is the man with 
his hands on the controls of this review. 



ImageFX 2.5_ 



29 



The latest version of this acclaimed image 
mianipulation package. It has seen off AD Pro, 
but does it compete with Photogenics 2, or is it 
something different thing altogether? 
Larry Hickmott is your guide on the long and 
winding road to all the answers. 



ShopperlUtorials 



CanDo Tutorial 



44 



Learn how to add fields and decide on stored 
data in part three of of multimedia database 
tutorial. John Kennedy has all the information 
about CanDo. 



6 







CanDo Tutorial: The muftimedia database -John 
Kennedy is the expert and iVs time for part three. 



HiSoft BASIC 



46 



In part six of his tutorial Paul Overaa has 

some more information on how to utilise 
Gadtool gadgets in conventional HiSoft Basic 

windows. 



ShopperRegulars 



Coverdisk 



8 



Everything that you need to know about this 
month's Coverdisk. 



News 



12 



All the newest and latest events going on in the 
Amiga world. 



Amiga Answers. 



34 



Everything you need to know about Amigas laid 
out before you in an easy-to-read format. 



How to... 



38 



Nick Veitch looks at how to use Mll^E 

software to send and receive binary files such 
as images or LHa archives via email. 

Public Domain 

A superb collection of new programs straight 
from the Public Domain. 



39 



48 



Letters 

Your chance to air your views and as usual the 
writer of the best letter stands to win £25. 



ShopperSenrices 



Next month 



50 



September 1996 



We'll be running an extensive and detailed guide 
to the Internet for bothe beginners and thise 
already connected. 

Back issues 

Mail Order 

Reader Ads 



Market Place 
Ad Index 



_43 
_43 
_32 
28 
49 




Public Domain: There's a huge selection of 
programs renewed in this month's PD. 



Issue 66 



Issue 66 



I 



September 1996 



ShopperContents 



I 



I 



V 



r 







I 






..geofSl 
You may nc , 
programs m the 
' ', all the infor 



a with an extensive 



and PD progr 



>uy so 1 
n Dav 

at you riWed on 






to get your software for free. 



-1 CU-^ 1 



1 



ShopperDlsk 



Four disks packed onto a single floppy. 

ApplicationZone 8 

AmiBroker is designed for analysing stock 
trends. Easyprint is a print driver and 
AmiFIG is a selection of drawing tools that 
can be used to create a variety of different 
projects. 

TechnicalZone 9 

BlizzMagic is a utility for copying a new 
ROM into the RAM. HappyEnv provides 
you witha handler for the Env device plus 
LCD CPU, AmiCDFS 2.21, MigLog, 
NewDate and DSTAC. 



10 



CreativeZone 

There are two sets of macros for Final 
Writer and there's also an ARexx script for 
Wordworth users. 




^SpffWbt. 



ShopperCoverdi||y^ 



Instructions 



David Taylor 




Cover 



disk 



David Taylor introduces this montli's action-packed Coverdisk, 
which is full to the brim with all the very best new PD and 
Shareware to give your Amiga new dimensions. 



As you can see from this 
month's feature, the Amiga 
still has a wealth of 
excellent software available 
and being developed for it, 
but mostly coming from the PD scene. In 
fact, there are areas of interest covered by 
PD software that some commercial 
software can't even do. This month's disk 
is a case in point; just take a look at the 
brilliant software we've collected for you. 



ApplicationZone 



AmiBroker 1.8 

Author: Tomasz Janeczko 

This pfogram is designed for analysing stock 
trends and for portfolio management. It is a 
remarkably powerful program which you can use 
to keep track not only of any single sets of 



^yrmJ^'^L-.'.m aS!Mji^tZ\!Pmmi,mATIiiim-mm.4»- I'^ig 




Keep a sharp eye on stock trends and portfolio 
management with AmiBroker I.S. 

shares, but of your own portfolios too. The 
program can be updated with data manually or 
even from teletext. The interface is very easy to 
use, although the more complex areas only make 
sense to those who know about the stock 
market or who have read the program's 
documents. Should you not have any money to 



invest, then you can try speculating using the 
data that is held within the program. 

To set up a portfolio, select the Account 
Manager from the Portfolio menu, or click on the 
Coins icon in the toolbar The Portfolio 
Requester then appears and you have to click 
on the Pay tn button to set up a starting 
balance. This is the amount of money you have 
to invest. Then click the mouse anywhere in the 
main window to select the date of the 
transaction you want to make. The exact date is 
shown in the title bar of that windovi^. Now 
select the name of the stock you wish to 
purchase. Click on Buy within the Manager 
Requester and you are asked whether the date 
and price are right. If they are, click OK and you 
are asked how many shares you want to buy - 
the maximum you can afford is shown. Enter the 
number and your portfolio is started. You can 
spread your portfolio over a selection of shares 
and each selection will have its data shown, 
including how much you paid for them, what 



High-quality printouts with EasyPrint 2.22 



The colour balancing retjttester allows you to make changes to the image before 
printing so that it Improves your printer's output Any changes you make can be 
tested on the image before being accepted. 



The colour balancing 
window is opened 
here so you can 
tweak the image. 



Select the type of 
dithering used to 
ensure that the 
image maintains the 
highest quality 
possible, even when 
you're printing in 
black and white. 



Take a look at the picture in original 
colours to get a better idea of what you 
are trying to print. 




The main window is used to open all the other 
requesters that control the program. 



Select the Image you want to load here. 
It is displayed In preview form on the 
screen below. 



Using this button you can invert the 
colours of the Image. 

The denser a printout Is the more dots 
per inch printed. 

This allows you to change the size of the 
image on the page. Most images are not 
loaded at full screen, so you may want to 
increase the size. 



The most important button 
of all! Clicking here sets 
everything in motion. 



Here you can even choose a 
type of dithering for the style of 
'error correction' 



8 



I September 1996 



I Issue 66 



David Taylor 



Instructions 



ShopperCove ^y^ 



Structuring made easy with AmiFIG 2.1 



The looli for creating 

different types of objects 
are found in ttie top half of 
the column. 



The lower pari contains 
the controls you need for 
editing, deleting and 
copying objects. 



This controls ail the 
different modes and also 
gives you details of the 
cursor's coordinates. 




ci« — >ii ir»— 1 




t rrr^m 


CI «-. 1 



nil's re-sizable window 
gives you a close-up view 
of the area around the 
cursor for detailed work. 



Although f/iis (s done in 
greyscale, you can always 
choose the pen colour 
and fill colour in this 
palette control. 



You can set the Style and 

thickness of lines and 
boxes here. 



This is where you draw the actual figure or diagram. Some examples are available In the Examples drawer 




EasyPrint has all kinds of options for improving 
the quality of your printouts, 
they are worth and what percentage they make 
up out of your portfolio. Selling shares is done in 
exactly the same way, using the Sell option from 
the Portfolio Manager. 

EasyPrint 2.22 

Author: Andrea Latlna 

The Amiga hasn't seen the official development 
of the pnnting drivers everybody wanted, so 
instead a number of third-party solutions have 
been created. This one is a dream to use. It 
requires an A1 200 with WB3, but claims to be 
able to output a full colour picture to 24-bit 
precision at full A4 size on an unexpanded 
system. Before using the program you need to 
install it. Tfiis is done through the standard 
Commodore installer, but does make sure that 
you have the correct libraries and fonts installed. 
If you don't have the fonts installed, the program 
simply hangs. 

When the program has loaded, you can see 
the interface. Load an IFF picture on to the 
blank page. You can now make some 
adjustments to the picture so that you get the 
best out of your printer. For instance, if your 
pnnter doesn't distinguish well between colours, 
you can adjust the contrast between them. Of 
course, if you only have a black and white 
printer, then you can make sure you get the best 



Issue 66 



greyscale image possible. To do this, click on 
the Balance button and play around with the 
sliders. Then click on Test to see how this would 
affect the image. If you are happy with it. you 
can apply the change and continue to refine the 
image. When it's all ready, click on OK. 

Before pnnting you can make other changes 
too. Clicking on Ivlodify Dimensions allows you 
to change the size or aspect of the image on the 
page. The density of the dots per inch can be 
changed for the printout to get more detailed 
images. There is also a Dithenng Requester 
which allows you to change the way the 
program tries to make corrections to the image 
for a better hard copy. Floyd-Steinberg is a very 
good system. 

AmiFIG 2.1 

Author: Andreas Schmidt 

Structured drawing tools are programs that 
make it easy for you to design your own 
structures. They can be used to create a variety 
of different projects, from designs of rooms to 
drawings of objects and diagrams of a scientific 
nature. AmiFIG can do all of this and save out 
your files as projects or IFF pictures. 

When the program has loaded, you can see 
the Tools window and the Modes window as 
well as the main window in which you draw the 
objects. The Tools window decides which 
method to use for creating the diagrams. The 
top two lines have controls for circles or ellipses 
and cun/ed lines. Click on the centre of the 
object for the circles, and then extend the box 
out as far as needed and click again. The 
freehand curved objects are created by clicking 
with the left button for individual points and then 
the right button for the final point, which 
connects to the starting point and completes 
the object. The rectangular icon is for drawing 
squares and rectangles. 

The fourth line has controls for freehand 
creation of objects through straight lines and 
text insertion (the font can be changed from the 



September 1996 I 



■ ' ■* • ' - 




«-■ I ££_ 



EBQ 



(=D 



«j»p»j I umi 



-T" I ■—I 





j__r 




mm 





You can use EasyPrint to change the colour 
contrast or even the aspect of your image. 
Edit menu). The other mam creation tool is the 
arc on the fifth line. The rest of the Tools 
window gives you controls for editing, copying, 
rotating and flipping objects. 

There are lots of other windows available if 
you want to do more detailed pictures and use 
different modes. 



TechnicalZone 



BlizzMagic 2.5 

Author: Jan HIavaty 

The Blii^ard boards have been amazingly 
successful and here is a utility for copying a new 
ROM into the RAM instead of the one native to 
your Amiga. It can survive any re-boots as does 
the normal ROM remapping. 

HappyEnv 

Author: Martin Gierlich 
Because of the amount of preference files 
stored in the Env directory in RAM, you can lose 
quite a lot of memory. This package provides 
you with a handler for the Env device. It gives 
you access to the Env variables much faster and 
also takes up considerably less memory. 
Because of the way this new concept works you 



9 



Sh o p pe r CoverdiH^r^ 



Instructions 



David Taylor 



Disk contributions 



This month's disks were compiled using files 
from Aminet and from Walton's Mountain 
BBS l-B 01S1 391 5730), and with the help of 
the authors ot the programs. 

It you would like to contribute to a future 
disk, whether you have a full application, 
utility, 40K demo, clipart, font, 3D object, or 
even a module, send it to: 

David Taylor, 

Amiga Shopper Coverdisk Contributions, 

30 Monmouth Street, Bath, Avon BA1 2BW. 
Please only send the minimum distribution 
archive. Also, please do not powerpack 
(or similar) any files because it detracts 
from the archiving. 



can do a "Delete ram:#? All" without removing 
any of the Env files, thus clearing RAM quickly 
and easily. Every time an Env variable is 
accessed and cannot be found in Env:, it is 
automatically copied from Envarc:, which means 
the entire copying of the directory which is done 
in the startup sequence can be omitted, making 
booting even faster. To avoid excessive disk 
accesses, HappyEnv remembers files that are 
not in Envarc:. 

LCD CPU 

Author: Matthias Betke 

In the July issue, (AS64), we gave you the 
software and details for creating a do-it-yourself 
hardware project of an LCD display which is 
controlled by your Amiga. It has proved 
extremely popular, so this month we're giving 
you a new piece of software which displays a 
CPU usage bargraph. 

AmiCDFS 2.21 

Author: Martin Berndt 

This i:s a further update of the new CD 
filesystem that we included on our diisk a few 
monttis ago. Although we don't normally include 
different versions so close together, this update 
includes 1'0% faster accessing, masses of bug 
fixes, improved diskchange, the ability to work 
with HFS floppy disks and hard drive partitions, 
and much more besides. As such, this is an 
absolutely essential package for everyone with a 
CD drive because it gives you the best 
compatibility possible. 



Subscribers' disk 



MigLog 



Author: Unknown 

This is a simple Arexx utility which can log any 
users who boot your Amiga, so if you have a 
computer which is accessed by several people, 
you can find out exactly when your machine has 
been used. 



NewDate 

Author; Nell Tweedy of Micro Olmenslons 

This IS a CU comimand which adjusts the usage 
of dates in your Amiga's clock so that you can 
have it displayed in whichever format you 
choose - DD/MM/YY, YY/MM/DD or 
MM/DD/YY - depending on which country you 
live in and which particular format you are 
accustomed to. 



DSTAC 



Author: Andrea Vallinotto 

This small but useful command can be used to 
ensure that your Amiga changes the hour on 
your battery backed-up clock automatically when 
the clocks change, according to the date you 
set for it. 



CreativeZone 



This month's Zone includes two sets of macros 

for Final Writer which allow you to do all kinds of 
different things, such as creating letterheads or 
uaiing Final Writer as a Pnnt Engine from other 
programs through Arexx. Final Writer users 
shouldn't be without these collections, 
especially because there is another utility 
included for loading images into your 
documents using datatypes. Word Worth users 
shouldn't feel left out either because there's an 
Arexx scrpt included which loads alt your fonts 
into a single text document so that you can do a 
printout for reference use. 

That's all for this month, and I think you'll 
agree that there's something on the disk for 
everyone, from applications to excellent 
utilities. There's no Information Zone this 
month because there were no updates sent 
in, andl there wasn't room to include the 
same files from last month. ■ 



Beginners, look! 



Every month subscribers get 
another disk packed virith 
programs absolutely free. 
The disk is exclusive to 
subscribers and this month 
includes four amazing 
packages. There is Everyday 
Organiser, whicfi is a suite of 
programs that sets up a diary 
on your Amiga and which can 
also launch programs on 
specified dates. Then there's 
Font Machine, which is an 
excellent package for 
creating textured fonts. 
I>eepX Is a new version of 



the on-the-fly disk 
expander and 
CityScape is a 
collection of objects 
and textures for 
Lightwave that allows 
you to create a full city 
scene. For details on 
subscriptions, and how 
you can save money on 
every issue of Amiga 
Shopper as well as take 
advantage of exclusive 
subscriber offers, call 
the hotline number 
below. You won't regret it. 



>IM|BA 



Don't delay, call our Subscription Hotline on ^ 01225 82251 1 for details. 



10 



September 1 996 




Before using this month's 
Coverdisk, please be sure to 
back it up - just in case. 
Simply follow the easy 
instructions below. 



□ 1 Sv>t>n 


IE3II& 




"^tui 


R'VKKliamt H 

/Fi 1 


]*> 


Shsl t 


Torna^ 


\Aaa^..\ 


<B>I 


rixfond 


HoFaniiH.- 



nSoot up from your Workbench disk or 
partition, double-cticif on your Shell 
icon - to be found in your System Drawer, 

Uorkbfnth Sci 
g I Mor kb^nch 

°J_J"lUuJ!iiJLL 




7 .Morlcbrnch ; > dlskcDpy frnn dfv: t« dfl 



B If you onlyltave one disk drive, type in 
the following line and then press Return. 

Diskr-opy t'.-or!i DF:; : i.o ufr : 
If you have two drives, place the Coverdisk in 
DFO: and a blank in DF1:, then type in this 
line Instead: 

Di.'jk(;0[ /y i : oiti DFO : to DF ' : 

H Follow the on-screen prompts and 
remember that the Coverdisk is the 
source disk and the blank is the destination. 

□ If you used the two-drive method, 
remember to rename the copy by 
clicking on its icon and pressing right-Amiga r. 

If you have two drives, you can also 
copy the disk from Workbench by 
dragging the Coverdisk icon over the 
destination disk's, 

QThen place either of the Coverdisks in 
DFO: and reset the Amiga to boot it. It 
Is best to boot disk 1 (or the Subs disk if 
you're a subscriber). This will let you install 
all the disks to either floppy or hard drive. 



Dodgy disk? 



To avoid errors when installing to floppies, 
ensure that your destination disks are of 
high quality. If an error occurs, try re-booting 
and using a different spare disk - the 
majority of errors are caused by faulty 
destination disks. 

If your Coverdisk absolutely refuses to 
Mfork and you are certain it is faulty, please 
return it, along with an S.A.E., to the address 
below. Please do not send faulty disks to 
the Amiga Shopper offices. 

Amiga Shopper Coverdisk 
(insert the name of the disk), 
TiB pic, TIB House, 
1 1 Edward Street, 
Bradford 
BD4 7BH. 



Issue 66 



AMIGA USER 
INTERNATIONAL 
Top Rating 96% 




IC AD, User 
RECOMM^ 



>»^«JiJ 



Personal Computer 

VNU LABS 
Reviewer's Choice 


W^ 


MacPower 1 
Best Value 




star 
Buy 


^^ 



^1 



SAMSUNG 





- ~*i 



we also won best supporting role 



And the winner is... you. 

With 13 major awards (including, of course, best 
picture), we're fast becoming a screen legend. 

But there's a lot more to our marketteading 
monitors than meets the eye. Because behind 
the screens, our technical crew is on-call to 



give you on-site support for a full three years. 

And let's not forget the rest of the supporting 
cast. Our notebook PCs, CD-ROMs and hard 
disk drives possess the same star quality. 

Samsung. Now showing at a dealec near you. 
Call 0800 521652. 



ShopperNews 



September 1996 



Issue 66 




VIScorp finalise 
deal witii Escom 



VIScorp 



VIScorp bit the bullet and finalised the 
agreement to buy Amiga Technologies from 
Escom for $40m in cash and stocks on June 
24th. Escom has been in financial trouble since 
late last year. The deal will include all of Amiga 
Technologies' staff and property, including 
existing stock, parts and technological expertise. 
The only thing not included in the deal was the 
Commodore name and trademarks which 
Escom are still using to push their higher end 
PC clones 

For the time being, VIScorp intend to 
continue to use Bensheim as the base for the 
co-ordination of production and distribution for 
the Amiga, 

rescue 
Leisuresoft 

According to industry newspaper CTW, 
electronics giant Philips announced that they 
had acquired failing distributor Leisuresoft in the 
last week of June, The move comes as no 
surprise to industry pundits who had predicted 
the buyout after Philips bought up Bomico in 
Germany earlier this year after having acquired 
Ecudis in France last year, Leisuresoft called in 
the administrators this March and has been 
busy selling off parts like the TechnoPlus 
accessories range to its SDL parent company 
Anglo Corporation, but trade debts in excess of 
£3m are nevertheless expected to remain. 

Supra launches 
33,600 modem 

Supra recently upped the potential transfer rate 
on their premium modem - the SupraSonic, to 
33,600 baud. Owners of existing 28.8 



12 




SupraSonics can upgrade by using the flashrom 
upgraders available from ftp.supra.com. The 
SupraSonic modem improves on Supra's 
previous flagship product the Supra v.34 Fax 
modem by increasing the information area from 
a two character display to a 32 character LCD 
readout. This lets all pertinent information be 
displayed on the programmable screen rather 
than switching between as before. T>ie modem 
is also capable of displaying CallerlD 
information (where available) on this display and 
of acting as an answerphone and voicemail 



U34 T33, 6 R33, 6 

U42bis 



system, providing of course, that software is 
created to do such a thing on the Amiga. 

Hayes drops 

Sirices 
odem manufacturer Hayes has announced 

that it IS to drop the price on its range of 
modems. Jeremy Butt, general manager for 
Europe said: "Hayes products are reknowned 
for their high quality and reliability. However, 
there has been a perception in the market that 
our products are highly priced, which has not 
been justified recently. We have now cut the 
prices to such a level that no-one will be able to 
resist a Hayes product," 

Price cuts of 28% on the Hayes Accura 
268 v,34 and Fax modem, perhaps the modem 
most likely to interest Amiga users, bnng it 
down to £1 69 including VAT. Hayes' modems 
are likely to appear more favourable to budget- 
conscious users. 



EMC 4 USA OK? 



Following last month's popular acronymic 
headline, we proudly announce the fact that 
EMComputergraphic has told us that it has 
appointed a US distributor for its unbeaten 
range of desktop publishing and video CDs, 
the Phase collection. Its appointed 
distributor, Computer Safari, will be no 



stranger to fans of EMC's commercial 
typefaces as it is the creator of the 
successful StarFonts collection of Star Trek- 
inspired typefaces. 

To further celebrate their new 
collaboration, EMC and Safari have a joint 
web site at: http://www.woodland.net/emc/ 




Issue 66 



September 1996 



ShopperNews 



Encyclopaedic knowledge 
comes to the Amiga at last 



Promising an easy-to-use and 

colourfut int&rface, the Epic 

Interactive Encyclopedia 

strouia tie worth the wait. 



Epic Marketing, the company well-known originally for 
their PD and shareware collection, and now for their 
range of CD-ROM titles, have announced the 
release of an interactive encyclopaedia on CD-ROM 
retailing at just £29.99. Wholly produced in the UK, 
unlike most multimedia encyclopaedias, the Epic 
Interactive Encyclopaedia (EIE) comes in two 
versions, one for AGA-based machines and one for 
ECS owners. The EIE comes with a hotlist editor 
allowing you to set up lists of your favourite topics 
and, like any multimedia encyclopaedia worth its 
salt, it also has hundreds of images and sound 
samples to accompany the text describing each 
topic. The EIE should be available from the end of 
July. If you would like more information, contact Epic 
Marketing on 01793 490988. 




Active Software 

launches 

NetConnect 

In a bid to bnng easy-to-use internet to Amiga 
owners, HiSoft were the first to put Net&Web 
on the market. Now, however. Active Software 
are leaping into the fray with their NetConnect 
package, available on disk or CD-ROM. With an 
extremely user-friendly configuration GUI sitting 
on top of the Amiga industry-standard AmiTCP 
v4.3 and a collection of MUl-based internet 
tools like PowerMail (version 2 of Metatool), 
MFTP2, MNews (a powerful newsreader only at 
version 0.2 on Aminet) and a specially created 
version of AmiPPP, amongst others, things look 
pretty favourable for Active's package. The 
configuration GUI allows for drag and drop 
configuration of a personalised toolbar for all 
your important internet utilities and the package 
will cater for over one hundred ISPs 

Everything is there to make TCP/IP on the 
Amiga into an easy 'anyone-could-rfo-it' type of 
operation rather than the arcane mess it was 
until recently. Watch out for our review soon, but 
if you want more details now, then call Active 
software on 01325 352260 or email them at: 
sales@active2,demon.co.uk. 




A sneal< preview ol PowerMaii - MetaTooi 2, 
included in the NetConnect package. 



ICPUG trial 
membership for 
just £10 

That bastion of freely distributable software and 
advice the Independent Computer Products 
Users Group (ICPUG) is offenng a Trial 
Membership for the four months from 1 st 
September to 31 si December 1 996 at the 
special cut pnce subscnption of only £1 0.00 
(including £1 share) for UK and BFPO 
members. The rate for Europe (including Eire) 
and overseas surface mail is £1 2.00 and the 
overseas airmail rate for this special offer is 
£15.50 

ICPUG, a non-profit-making organisation, 
was formed in August 1978. The focus of its 
support IS on PCs and the Amiga, but it aims to 
provide support for most home computers, 
including the Apple Mac as well as the older 
machines which were produced by the former 
Commodore company. 

Trial Membership includes two issues of the 
ICPUG Journal (around 104 pages), use of the 
ICPUG free PD software library for the Amiga 
and all other Commodore computers, as well as 
a free PD library (DOS and Windows) for the 
PC Discounts. Technical help hot-lines are also 
available for members. 

Through the Readers Wnte section of the 
ICPUG Journal, members can contact other 
users of home computers, both within the UK 
and overseas. 

With the demise of Commodore and the 
acquisition of Amiga Technologies by VIScorp, 
the "For Sale and Wanted" column is often the 
only means of acquiring itemsessential to your 
belovedmachine which are now out of 
production. 

You can get details from the Membership 
Secretary, Tim Arnot. 1 7 Colne Dnve. Oakfields, 
Didcot, Oxon OX1 1 7RZ, through email at: 
digits@cix.compulink.co.uk, or via fhe web at: 
http://www.icpug.org.uk 



big 



Not 
enough? 

Tired of having too small a monitor? People 
pointing and laughing? Well, now you too can 
have a monitor that will make the girls (or boys) 
gasp. ViewSonic's brand new PT810 monitor 
measures in at a massive 21". The monitor uses 
a .30mm aperture grille that produces vertical 
bars of colour instead of dots, resulting in bright 
high contrast images even at high resolutions. 
Furfhermore, its SuperContrast screen 
incorporates glass with a lower transmission 
rate to minimise colour wash-out. 

The PT810 offers twenty controls for sizing, 
positioning and convergence and the 
ViewMatch system allows you to adjust colour 
temperature to match printed output. It can 
display resolutions of 1 600x1 200 at 73Hz and 
1280x1024 at 85Hz and will set you back a 
mere £1903 including VAT. For more details, 
phone ViewSonic Europe on 01293 643900. 

Escom in trouble 

Escom's troubles don't look like abating. TTne PC 
giant and ex-owner of the Amiga announced at 
the start of July that it was being forced to close 
65 shops and lose over 200 staff in an effort to 
keep its head above water. 

Escom put a brave face on the cuts saying 
that they firmly intended to continue trading in 
the UK, but talks with banks and trading 
partners have failed to stabilise the troubled 
German company. 




JUmsAi 



13 



ShopperNews 



September 1996 



Issue 66 



Titbits 



Wirenet 



web space 

Wirenet Amiga Internet now 
offers 1 MB of free web space to 
all tti el r subscribers. The UK's 
first Amiga-only Internet Access 
Provider has lust doutiled tKe 
amount of WWW space for each 
customer's home page from 
51!2Kto 1 Megabyte. 

Til rough their backbone 
provider U-Net, who are once 
again Number 1 in Internet 
Magazine's league table, all 
customers will now have a full 
t, megabyte of space for storing 
their personal web pages. This 
space is to be made available 
immediately to all new and 
existing customers. 

Wirenet was set up to provide 
a complete internet solution for 
the Amiga. They supply up- 
-to-date and fully supported 
software for their users, 
complete with a comprehensive 
installation and configuration 
package. 

The supplied software 
includes an integrated news and 
mail package, an intuition 
controlled ftp program for 
downloading software and other 
files, and a World Wide Web 
browser. These are all controlled 
from a central control window 
that also takes care of 
connecting and disconnecting 
from the internet. 

Benefits of connecting via 
Wirenet include: 

I Amiga specialised support 
by telephone and email 

I Full email address with own 
domain name 

I Local call access throughout 
the UK 

I 20:1 modem ratio that 
means you should always be 
able to connect 

I 28. BK modems for the 
fastest connections 

I Your own personal page on 
the World Wide Web with 1MB 
of space 

I A full range of shell 
programs and scripts allowing 
users who prefer to work from 
the shell to do so 

I Full and totally uncensored 
news feed 

Their rates are as follows: 
1 time connection fee - £14 
Annual subscription - £115 

These are inclusive prices to 
which VAT is already added. 



ClariSSA Pro 



ClariSSA Pro is launched this month for just 
£1 95 inc VAT and is available from White 
Knight Technology. The new version features 
improved SSA animation giving even faster 
playbacit of moverrent-rich anims and a whole 
new host of special effects that can be 
incorporated into your masterpiece using a 
unique and easy to use timeline interface. We 
will have a full review of this outstanding 
package in next month's feature packed issue. 
For more details contact White Knight 
Technology on 0''920 822321 or email them 
at: 106010.2617@compuserve.com 

ClariSSA Pro's new effects are easy to 
use and help create professional- 
looking animations 



>»r>»iw ii>.> c«wirl1it * iT>a-T« p«-»»Wl. »« I *l«lit> *«>>r,^p< 



""■""II 



M" jsJ*JiJ""jsJiy 



r»i w..!.!- I" 



iliiLi-J/jtu., 



mt*r HKMoJlacrja f t IflK^W-llijI I I CMtt Km*ru I 



■min-MJttt »— -*'■>-»— ' 



»l.l..-M^H.^ I ».^>.^< 



»..^-».l^H — 



PB^«t t KpBt^K-mpj 



KJ] 



t t*# rl*ht i jjaj 



Commeri": 

Amiga OS: Village 

Competing in a lUletropoiitan World? 



We all know 'village life' is 
better than 'city life', don't 
we? There is a sense of 
community, everyone can 
deal with daily problems 
and when there is more 
serious work, it can be 
done by a one-man 
organization. You fee) you 
are in control; even 
operating systems fit onto 
a few DD floppy disks. 

In cities, life is more 
complex. There is no 
overview so you can get 
lost. Everything is so vast 
that operating systems fill 
one or more CD-ROMs. 
That's the way it has to 
be; hundreds of miilions 
of people "plug and play" 
thousands of different 
printers, graphic cards, 
sound boards, networks, 
modems, mice, CD- 
ROf^s, DVDs, fWIIDI, 
IWPEG, ISDN, 
video-conferencing 
systems, speech 
recognition, 3D audio, 
disability features and 
legacy software... 

Then there is the 
Internet, Not long ago, 
this was a village but now 
it is the wildest of all 
cities. Microsoft and 
Netscape fire HTML 
extensions at each other, 
blood flows as the load 



gets too heavy; Java 
Virtual Machine, 
JavaScript, Active X, 
RealAudio, ActiveMovie, 
Quicktime, Acrobat, Type 
1 Fonts, TIFF extensions, 
PNG, VRML, SET, JIT 
compilers, higher screen 
resolutions, frames, style 
sheets, telephony, digital 
signatures, encryption, 
secure sockets and 
protocols, merchant 
servers, home servers... 

The Amiga community 
has prospered as a village 
but is now facing hard 
times. Its buildings are 
getting old, and most of 
the people who took care 
of them left years ago. 
The birthrate has fallen; 
there are no more PET 
and C64 generations to 
help. The remaining boys 
and girls grow, play, study, 
gain experience and get 
strong, but soon leave. 
Most of the best go 
downtown, where the 
rich village 
developers are 
investing. Those who 
keep loving village life are 
considering a new place 
where bees f)y in pairs. 
The consumer market was 
one of the last to be 
invaded, but now 
metropolitan OSes and 



metropolitan Web 
browsers (almost an OS 
themselves) are here, 
fighting for life in our 
dusty village streets. 

Outside, critical mass 
is an issue; OS/2 and the 
Macintosh, much more 
"metropolitan" than the 
Amiga, have a larger, 
wealthier market share 
but even their tales are of 
corporate headaches and 
disadvantaged users. If 
you don't reach critical 
mass, you can't 
afford to make 
the necessary 
investments and 
you starve. This 
mass is growing, 
as is the quantity 
and the 
complexity of 



systems, while universal 
component technology 
isn't mature enough to 
reestablish a balance 
where "smalt is good". 

While the new set-top 
box perspectives provide 
some reassuring 
protection for Amiga 
technology, there is no 
doubt that the next few 
years will bring some 
exciting challenges for the 
software developers who 
are left in the village,,. 




Michael BattUana, head 
honcho at Cloanto and 
creator of Personal Paint 
apeak* out about the 
future of the Amiga. 



14 



David Taylor 



Public Domain 



ShopperFeature 




David Taylor brings you the ultimate guide to Amiga PD and tlie very best it has to 
offer. Now you don't need to spend a fortune to get the best quality software. 



Public Domain, or PO, has 
become a term used to cover 
a whole range of non- 
commercial software. While a 
lot of it is very minority 
orientated, written by programmers for 
their own specific needs, there exist many 
packages that should be considered 
essential for Amiga owners. It's time to 
looked at every type of software available 
and the best packages around. Whether 
you need a word processor or a music 
package, a morphing program or a 
database, the chances are that you'll find 
one for free - or nearly free - in the PD. 

Which ware? 

Whenever you get a package from the PD, you 
should check the documentation to see what 
type of 'ware' it is. First is the materials vuhioh is 
completely free from copyright restrictions - 
labelled 'public domain'. Anything that is truly PD 
is completely open to use or alteration by 
anybody. However, because some authors don't 
want their programs to be disassembled, 
hacked or incorporated into other packages 
without their permission, a sector known as 
freeware has been created. Like PD. this 
softv^are is completely free, but the author 
retains copyright, so that nobody is allow/ed to 
pass work off as their own, or do anything with it 
outside that which the author stipulates. 



C o r, t r o 1 

S Ian A I Pracasaer 
£«)< >-l>t nan><<r 
r iqgar 



I IMnlgt tlimir fibUi kiili Hhiu llrHtirvilh 



j igZy.^ r 



Halm Hfft p | OthT ^r*f »| f >f T&f^iificjJ llbaut 



Rtcord Infl - - 
Duratten: ri*:M:t4£44 



Op«r>ti>rfe 

Pn*s» invvrtvr 



- Op*r«t* On 
i Rvcardlnv 



AudloLab Junior ft « 0«xlble sound sampla 
editor that can help you mslte (he best of 
Ifour samples. 



Normally, the author retains the copyright so that 
they know theiir product is kept freely available 
and that nobody is trying to sell it, except for a 
nominal fee to cover distribution costs. 

Tfie most popular type of ware is 
'shareware'. This is a product created by the 
author, that they believe they should be 
rewarded for. In other words, they want some 
form of payment for the time and effort they 
have put into the creation of the package. To 
this end, they request that you register the 
package by sending them a certain fee, normally 
between £3 and £20, To encourage you to 
register, a lot of authors cripple their product in 
some way, agreeing to send you the full product 




Miii.btl.UlHHjtCf'!!!!] 
ianiutH ri 



.ra.rs KJTf.tniils 

' torn wfitirt ■ Mxt«r*IKr? I 
iig H uftun rr«a m Htl 



ItUmM 

llElaHMt Main llmliniiIIMl»ii llnttoTT r( itlual KlKut. 

iltiitMl ttrtlwi llilltlMin^ lilt t( n Httrt ullk mtilK { 

All iRl fllF il (iwilM Ma^i htillilln 19M,4. Ill ll«tt tutrfH.| 
■IhPI Hmua llrwtkTvllh ■""""" ""' " """""•" 



The favourite choice tor ahareware text 
editor, EdWord Pro, is stable and 
powerful with ARexx support. 



when you register. As such the shareware 
versions are often merely demos. Sometimes the 
registration process will provide you with a key 
file, whi'ch when placed in a specific directory 
will be recognised by the program: and unlock it, 
making all the features accessible. Shareware 
authors do not tend to make that much money, 
however, as only a few people register 
programs. If the fee is high, then the program 
has to be exceptional to get people to fork out. 
That said, some programs can be runaway 
successes, like ShapeShitter, the Apple Mac 
emulator, or the Epoch series of programs. 

There are also many other types of ware, 
from 'e-mail' or 'postcard ware' to 'cookie' or 
'beetware'. Frequently these are packages 
where the author still wants people to register, 
so they can hear how many people are using the 
program, as well as finding out their opinion of 
It To do this, they request that people register, 
but don't ask for money, simply a message or 
maybe a gift. These wares may or may not be 
restricted in some way. 

Lastly is a separate type of software called 
'I ice nee ware". In this type of project.one 
distributor takes on a set of titles they consider 
to be of high quality, but which are not 
commercially available. The product is sold 
through retailers and a percentage of the 
proceeds from each sale goes to the author. 
When you buy a I ice nee ware product, you have 
no further fee to pay and no registration, so 



15 



ShopperFeature 



Public Domain 



David Taylor 



rbiHiftcni.i.itffi^hfa^ft-'«k 1 


1^ 


: Ti^BtMla 1 


iMli 


x|-»UMI»|r:| ttUMM.>.|M.:| m^lTSiiaill 










3<p 


H 






p--""-'.-^^^:— 






-l___. 


1 




1)' 


.--^^^"^ 







Stniclured drawing the easy way with the 
eminently accessible MagnifiCAD. 



\n t*i i-FiKt 



r| lila 



t£i| hnpU 



SRRJiir 



■ IDC 

■ IfT 



taluftTHl 



■ ■ ■aii»«'i 



fcw.,. I IXil 



J_»!L 



r |r<#1*ni 



J 



:si 



Bsffsra it or not, this is a graphics package; there 
are just so many windows to deal with that (Ae 
lmag» is hidden! 









pnc! 



atict laplir 



trn ■ 



■jd 






le atari I g^ I ♦i 



MalnActor was such a good package that later 
\fersions went commercial. 



such programs often work out cheaper than 
most shareware, even though they might be of 
higher quality. This is a form of amateur 
commercial software. 

Ware-a bouts 

There are several sources of PD, the most 
obvious being the famous Aminet Library. This is 
the largest single source of software and it's 
maintained on the Internet. Its home is at 
ftp.wustl.edu, but there are mirror sites around 
the world. These mirror sites contain replicas of 
the main site, so that you can access the 
software from a site nearer to your home 
country. In the UK. the Aminet mirror is 
maintained at src.doc.ic.ac.uk and new files are 
uploaded every day, so that you'll always find 
something different available from the site on 
every visit. New files are uploaded by the 
authors themselves and checited by the Aminet 
administrators to ensure they are not illegal. 
Because not everyone has access to the 
Internet, the Aminet library has also been 
released on a set of CD-ROMs, which have 
proved immensely popular. 

The other famous collection of disks is 
called the Fred Fish Collection. This has 
become less active recently, but still has a 
massive back catalogue of Amiga software. 
Much of the software from Fred Fish can be 
found on Aminet too, although it must be 
remembered that Aminet is not an exhaustive 



16 



source, and not all software ends up there. 

If you have a modem, but no Internet 
account, then you can get software from local 
BBSs, many of which contain new files from 
Aminet, as well as some extras. If you don't have 
access to any of these methods, then the best 
ways to get your PD are either from a PD house 
or from magazine coverdisks like our own. PD 
houses maintain huge libranes and will often 
compile disks with your requested programs, 
instead of just selling each program on a 
separate disk. Most of these libraries are set up 
with good intentions and charge only minimal 
amounts to cover costs, although some have 
been criticised for trying to make too much 
money out of other people's efforts. 

Licenoeware products are only available 
from authorised dealers. Anyone selling them 
who isn't a recognised dealer is infringing the 
author's copyright and pirating the goods, as the 
author will not be receiving their percentage. 

The software 

With Ihe descnptions of PD defined and the 
whereabouts of the sources clarified, we can 
now look at the specific software available, so 
that you can make sure you get hold of the very 
best packages. T>iere are bound to be those 
who disagree with our choices and claim that 
the software they use is better than the 
packages we pick, but we've chosen on the 
basis of all-round general use and features. 
Many of these programs have been included on 
earlier Coverdisks, but all of them are available 
from Aminet now, so we've also given you their 
locations. Some of the programs are newer than 
others: we've chosen the best we've seen - 
whatever their ages. 

Word processors 

Word processing is probably the single most 
common non-entertainment use lor computers. 
Almost everybody needs a WP package at 
some point, but a commercial one will cost you 
quite a lot and can be overkill if you just want to 
type the odd letter. While there are no PD 
programs that can match the DTP features 
available in the likes of WordWorth or Final 
Writer, there are plenty that offer all the text 
editing features you'll normally need. 

Three packages stand out and coming in 
third is Text Engine 5. This has a lot of features 
and can be very useful, but it's not 1 00% stable 
and has been known to hang when you exit the 



program. Still, it does enable you to do all the 
obvious things like Cut and Paste, and Find and 
Replace. Second place goes to Blacks Editor 
which IS a new package that offers all the 
functions you'll need, including ARexx support. 
It's also completely freeware, and is not 
restricted in any way. 

The most professional, stable package, 
though, is Ed Word Professional. Now in version 
5.5, which was recently included on a 
Coverdisk. EdWord has everything you'd want 
from a WP, including multiple documents, file 
insertion, block selection and Cut. Copy and 
Paste, The program also includes features such 
as line deletiion. Find and Replace and Hex 
search (useful because this program is ideal for 
coders - it's even good for AmigaDOS scripts, 
as it allows for the insertion of escape codes). 
There are word count facilities, an occurrence 
count, a feature to transform tabs into spaces 
(for those files that are different types of 
ASCII) and a calculator module which will open 
the calculator on the text editor screen and 
which can also be used independently of 
the program, 

It has ARexx support and enables you to 
record and save your own macros. The 
shareware version has the Save option disabled, 
although you can still use Save As to save a file, 
so that you can really test out the program. The 
registration is a mere £1 and it's certainly 
well worth it. 

iNone of these programs include a spell 
checker but don't despair because there is a PD 
spell checking package called ASpell, which 
was included on last month's Coverdisk. 
There's also a separate GU! package and an 
extended UK dictionary available. The GUI was 
also included on last month's Coverdisk and the 
larger dictionary was on the Subs disk. Better 
still, you can control ASpell through ARexx so 
that it becomes part of the WP. Run from an 
external shell, the GUI pops up on your WP, 
shows you the incorrect words and offers 
alternatives. 
Available on Aminet: 
text/edit/ 

ASpell.Iha 
ASpellGUMha 

BlacksEditorIha 
EdWord_V5.lha 
TextEngine5.01.lha 
ukacd.Iha 




David Taylor 



Public Domain 



Shop per Feature 



Business applications 

If you run a small business or need to keep track 
of your own dealings, then the Amiga can help 
without taking all you profits to buy the software 
you need. 

Most people have some use for a database 
wliich can store information in fields and wfiich, 
ideally, can also incorporate some multinnedia 
files too, in case you want to store pictures for 
instance. This is useful as it enables you to 
quickly pull up things like product shots or 
customer information should you need to. 

There are really two choices. DB3.2 is a 
shareware program, which is un-cnppled but 
costs £13 to register. It's easy to set up and 
has a user-definable interface so that you can 
design your own databases. However, another 
program is now available called Fiasco, a truly 
excellent program that could, in all honesty, put 
some commercial programs to shame. It handles 
datatypes and has an interface that enables you 
to design your own look for your projects. It is 
powerful, yet easy to use and can incorporate 
pictures and sounds, unlike some commercial 
programs which load them into separate 
windows. Amazingly, the author has released the 
program in its full version, but it's giftware, so 
send him a token of your gratitude. 

If you have to create reports or even 
schoolwork, then graphs are a useful visual aid 
that can give a professional look to your work. 
Although there are a couple of choices, the one 
to go for is JCSraph, a program that takes a 
standard text file containing information of the 
axes and values and draws a 3D graph for you. 
You can preview your work in a wireframe mode 
and, if necessary, adjust the perspective. It's got 
quite a few graph types and is one freeware 
business application that should not be 
underestimated. 
Available on Aminet: 
biz/dbase/ 
db3.2.lha 
Fiasco.Iha 

gfx/misc/ 

jcgraph.lzh 

Paint programs 

If you are looking for something which will allow 
you to draw your own pictures, then the choice 
is the PD FreePaint, which is quite old but siill 



Fractal Universe i« a great program, bat 
should you really expect to pay tor a 
fractal generator? 




It you want to be able to t/lewyoar 
pictures then save them out in 
different formats, SuperVlew is Ideal 
for your needs. 



very competent, despite the fact that it only 
supports older screen modes. There are other 
packages, but none match the quality of 
FreePaint. It features all the tools, including 
lines, squares, text, bucket fills and brushes. 

A slightly different choice is the licenceware, 
tragic Paint Box, a paint program designed for 
children. It's excellent, features some built in 
clipart rubber stamps and could easily be used 
to draw pictures, even though it is aimed at kids. 
It costs £7 from Ft Licenceware. 

If, however, you are looking for something 
which can create diagrams for reports and the 
like, then one of the more structured drawing 
programs is your best bet. There are a couple of 
packages worth checking out. AmiFIG is very 
powerful and has all the features you could 
need. You can find it on this month's Coverdisk 
- check out the disk pages for more details. 
MagnifiCAD is a more approachable package, 
with a very friendly GUI, but it lacks some of 
AmiFIG's more advanced features. If you need a 
program like this, then check out both and 
decide which is best for you. Registration of 
AmiFIG IS $20 (c.£13) and f^agnifiCAD is £13. 
Both shareware versions are slightly restricted, 
but totally adequate for evaluation. 
Available on Aminet: 
gfx/edit/ 
FreePaint.Iha 
am(fig21 .Iha 



amifig21_68k,lha 

MagnifiCADIt.Iha 

image processors 

Image processors are not designed for drawing 
freehand pictures, but for adjusting existing 
images. You can use them to convert images 
between formats or add effects to the pictures 
and adjust the colour levels. There are currently 
two realistic packages available. 

In an earlier incarnation, ImageStudio won 
the 1 995 Reader Award for the best 
PD/shareware utility It offers the chance to load 
many different file formats and enables you to 
add masses of effects and colour alterations to 
your images. This was already one of the best 
shareware programs ever and recently it moved 
up another notch, when a printed manual 
became available. 

The other program worth considering is 
ImageEngineer 3. This has now become a 
shareware product although previously it was 
freeware. It has some exceptional features like 
previews of user-defined Convolves and also 
includes masses of pre-defined effects, so 
cannot be underestimated. The ImageStudio 
shareware version crops images to 51 2 x 51 2 
pixels and the full version will cost you costs 
£1 5. It requires OS2.04. at least 1 1Vlb of free 
RAI^ and a hard drive. The ImageEngineer 3 
shareware version will handle 400 i 400 pixels 




n*/s neiif version oflmtge Engineer has 
the ability to preview Convolve additions, 
something that many commercial 
packages can't do. 



More surreal backdrops are 
available with tfie weird 
plasma effect 



Here's ImageStudio 
with only a couple of 
windows open and a 
preview image on 
display. 



•mw 



w 






ShopperFeature 



Public Domain 



David Taylor 



and costs $35 (c.£22) to register. It requires 

OS2.04, a 68020 and a bare minirrum of 2Mb 

of RAM. 

Available on Aminet: 

gfx/edit/ 

lmEngV3.0.lha 

gfx/conv/ 

ImageStudio^LIha 
lmageStudio_2.lha 

Fractal generators 

Some people dismiss fractal generators as 
frivolous packages, with no practical use - only 
capable of making those Mandelbrot images so 
popular in the '80s, Put these prejudices aside. 
because fractal generators can save you 
masses of work. Although the creation of any 
fractal can be extremely processor-intensive and 
sometimes means that you have to leave even 
an 060 to work on it for a while, you can use 
generators to create some useful pictures - 
especially landscapes, trees or clouds. You can 
then use these as backdrops in your own 
pictures and particularly 3D projects. 



., ^../' . . ■■■ 




. 


Ki^i^id-<- 


A3; --A^. 


T/TLEi 


twit l| 1 IMCmJ 


n ii* 


Ql rirt iiiitiH 


I 




> 




raia 


1 
Vn 1 ^»\* Cm 



NTJUmr can craate tUlea orar IFF Images and 
you can Men animate the nrhola thing la 3D. 




A tow end motphlitg pro 

system, MIniMorph lo*tls greyseate Images and 

saves ou( IFF frames. 



ISiorth Ct951^ roficiw* 


limlKI 





] krMMth 1 




F«.:Sinr-Ni4i l^i Lin s 


itvihr 

DK 1 1 1 n 1 II 

a fluid «! t 


aw J 


r» iM« \»*m\ 7J 


»*t Si 



TSHorpb has several programs. Including 
the preferences, with ARexjc support and 
makes use of preview Images and 24-blt IFF 
final images. 



I Kc Fm m I 



i mtU B I < ) 



B rtLts tttx. V 
in mri* iwim mt svt 



■M /wB M/N> tt 1 » cK>,:;;:;;:ii m !<■ 


*♦ H 


■■^^1 


■ 






4^i^i^i4H^4^ld^H44iyjflMf4jjt: 


^^^■333 



OctafHED ¥4 has now been released as 
freeware and so you can now get your hands 
on the complete package. 




AMountains is a simple fractal generator; all 
you need do is set it going and leave it. When 
it's finished, you've got a complete landscape! 
The package has a couple of versions for 
different CPUs and a faster CPU is 
recommended, although a 68000 FFP version is 
included - you should note, however,that 0S3 
is required. Because it continues to generate 
the landscape, scrolllimg it as it goes, you need 
to have a screen capture utility, like QuickGrab 
or CRSnap running in the background so that 
you can save the picture when you want. 

Clouds can be created using the program 
Clouds which is also very simple, works on any 
Amiga, and can save out its wavery results as 
IFFs for your future use. 

If you want to create a more wacky 
backdrop, then try out a plasma field, which can 
be created with the Plasma program. Like 
AMountains, you'll need to grab the screens to 
save them. All these packages are either public 
domain or freeware and therefore complete. 

If you want to create a different type of 
fractal, or maybe one of the Mandelbrot types, 
then you can choose from^ quite a few programs. 
There are some which are designed to be quick 
and easy, where you just start them off and they 
create a fractal - something like Clouds, except 
for Mandelbrots. However, you miight do better 
from one of the more professional packages like 
Fractal Universe or Chaos Pro. Both are top 
quality and enable you to choose both your type 
of fractal and the degree of magnification. In the 
end though, ChaosPro comes out best as it is 
public domain not shareware, and yet has 
advanced options like animation creation in both 
anim and IFF frame type. 

You should note that although both 
programs create exceptional fractals, the time 
required is extensive, as is a reasonable system 
(030 with FPU). Using an 060 to create a 200 
frame animation, I set it going and had to leave it 
while I went on holiday! (the animation was 
included on the Amiga Format Cover CD 1 .) 
Available on Aminet: 
gfx/fract/ 
Amiountains.iha 
Plasma.lha 
Landscape.Iha 
Chaos Pro. I ha 
fu1_62.lha 

gfx/misc/ 
Clouds30.lha 

Morptilng programs 

As unbelievable as it may seem, you can get 
several PD packages that create morphing 
animations which will metamorphose one image 
into another. Okay, you aren't going to create T2 



September 1996 



on your A500, but you can still do some 
amazing things. TSMorph is the best PD 
morphing package, although you should 
remember that morphing is not aimed at 
beginners. TSMorph is still remarkably easy to 
use, giving preview pictures that enable you to 
select the relevant points which will be morphed 
into one another from one image to the neit. You 
can determine how many frames will be used 
and save out the animation in either 24-bit IFF 
or one of the number of other formats available. 
Included in the package is a tutorial which 
provides you with the two pictures to be 
animated. The package supports ARexx for 
some effects and some scripts are also 
supplied. If a criticism can be made at all of 
such a generous package, it is that the tutorial 
could have been supplied as a completed 
project, however, the instructions should suffice 
for beginners with a little patience. 

If you do want to dive straight in and see 
what it is all about - get your hands dirty 
immediately as it were - then try out MiniMorph, 
This is a less complex package (not that 
TSMorph is that complicated), which simply 
loads greyscale images up and allows you to 
stretch grids over the top. The two grids are 
then used to morph the images over a 
requested number of frames. MiniMorph morphs 
individual frames in greyscale and comes with 
three sample images, which all have grids 
created for them. It's a freeware package and so 
if you're interested in this sort of image 
manipulation then you can happily get both this 
and TSMorph to play around with. Amazingly, 
MiniMorph will actually work on an OS3 
machine, although any extra RAM you can get 
hold of is useful. 
Available on Aminet: 
gfx/edit/ 
TSMorph,lha 

gfx/misc/ 

miniMorph,lha 

Otiier Graphics 

As well as all these types of graphics creation 
packages, you should consider a picture 
displaying program, because loading up a full 
graphics package every time you want a quick 
look at a picture is both time and memory 
consuming. For a long time Viewtek has been 
the program that everyone has used to show 
pictures, because of its versatility. However, it's 
decoding of JPEGs is not particularly fast or of 
very good quality, and so there's room for other 
programs on your drive. 

Visage has proved a popular program, but if 
you want something that's fast and has quite a 
few options, then the two to look for are 



Issue 66 



David Taylor 



Public Domain 



ShopperReview 



SuperView and TIFFView. They can both load 
many types of images quickly, use different 
screen modes and save out the images as 
different formats. Equally the quality of the 
images is excellent in both packages and both 
are suitable for OS2.04 and above. SuperView 
can be evaluated using the shareware version 
which has a reminder requester for 30DI^ 
(c,£12) and TIFFView is freeware. 

There are a couple of other, miscellaneous 
packages also worth checking out. MainActor 
1 .5 is a sound and animation package that 
proved so popular it went on to become 
commercial, although this earlier version is still 
available. Iconian is a fully fledged paint package 
for creating icons and is amazing. If you need to 
print out graphics then you should take a look at 
the print enhancement package Easy Print 2, 
which is included on this month's Coverdisk, so 
check the disk pages for more details. 
Available ori Amir^et: 
gfn/edit/ 
MainActor1_55.lha 

gfx/show/ 

SView542.iha 
TIFFViewl 1 6.lha 
ViewTek21.lha 

Video Titling 

If you want to create title sequences for your 
videos then the Amiga is still one of the most 
advanced home computers around. In fact in 
this month's letters, you can read about a 
professional video specialist who wouldn't be 
without his Amiga. Surely then, there can't be 
PD packages for this sort of advanced work? 
Well, there are in fact a couple for you to 
choose from. 

JACOSub is a shareware video titler which 
runs scripts of titling effects. It is not an 
accessible package for novices, and because of 
its scripting nature has a limited GUI, but is 
nevertheless worth checking out. The shareware 
version, which shows the program logo on 
each screen, can be registered for $26 (c.£1 5) 
for private use or $169 (c.£1 00) for 
commercial use. 

Much more user-friendly and slightly more 
intriguing is the NTiller Pro and NWiper Pro set 
of programs. These two are from the author of 
the VR Navigator program. Using its VR 
perspective, NTitler can size and position key 
frames of 3D titles, set over an IFF image and 
then animate them. You can load different fonts 
and text, as well as different backdrops. NWiper 



\ i mmt; »wOnmi«mt«>o«.i.i/tiiu>fmiiiut>wiiaig~ 



3 Kcrkbench 



m» mviltm 



MiV} 'inm ^i itt pl»'r 





TMc MmteUim £dltw haa all I/ie feaf uras you would neetf 
in a module editor. Including a difforent approach, coupled 
with a tuill-ia sample editor. 



Fiasco Is a database that gives you the facility 
to Incorporate images, putting some 
commercial patdiages to stiame. 



can produce the same sort of effects but using 
IFFs instead of text. The demo versions of both 
of these packages place some text in the 
background, but registering both packages only 
costs £20. 

If you want to create your own colourful 
fonts for videos, then you should try out Font 
Machine, which maps textures or pictures onto 
fonts and transforms them into 3D fonts for 
maximum effect. It's an impressive program, 
capable of working in 356 colours and anti- 
aliasing your results. The demo cannot handle 
fonts larger than 25 pixels in size and is not for 
commercial use, but you can contact the 
developers, ClassX, in Italy for details of the full 
program on 00 39 587 749206. If you are a 
subscriber, you'll find the demo on this month's 
subscnbers' disk. 
Available on Aminet: 
gfx/show/ 
jcosub25.lha 

Music Editors 

Creating music needn't cost you an arm and a 
leg, and there are now several very acceptable 
packages available. If you want to create 
modules, then you can choose from the once 
commercial OctaMED v4, which has been re- 
released as freeware m the hope of enticing 
people to upgrade to the much more powerful 
version six or the brand new OctaMED 
SoundStudio. As you would expect from a 
commercial program - even one that's a few 
years old - it's a quality product which offers a 
wide choice of effects and you can use it to 

make some impressive songs. It has 
a built-in sound sampler so that you 
can even tweak the samples you use 
within your creations. There's 
obviously no comparison between 
this and the new commercial 
versions, but at least penniless 
composers needn't be without 
software. 

Another great program to try is 
the MusicLine editor. It takes a 
different approach and is very 
powerful indeed. Included in the 
program is a versatile sample editor 
that can actually add effects to 
instruments so that you can make 



September 1996 



DB 1.2 la a database and you can use It 
to dettne your own special Interface for 
your projects. 



some real adjustments to sounds. Although not 
limited, it is shareware and costs a mere £1 3 
to register. 

There is also ProTracker, an old version of a 
very old program. It's an odd package that has 
had a real following, so as it's freeware, it could 
also be worth looking at. A couple of extra 
music utilities also worth looking at are 
AudioLab Junior - a sample editor - and a 
module player. Module players vary in size and 
you can try anything from the small MiniPlay. 
which is functional but with an adequate 
interface, through to the all singing, all dancing, 
HippoPlayer, which can play almost any format 
of song, including those that are contained 
within archives. 
Available on Aminet: 
mus/edit/ 
audiolab.Iha 
mlinel 1 4,lha 
OctaMEDv4.lha 
Protracker353.lha 

mus/play/ 
hip223.1ha 
MiniPlayer321.1ha 

Final words 

There are many more utilities and applications 
available as both free and shareware, from file 
managers to backup programs, and math 
programs to CD file systems (in fact check out 
AmiCDFS 2 on this month's Coverdisk). We've 
tned to cover as many mainstream applications 
as possible, so we haven't had to room to 
mention some of the utilities which we would 
consider essentials for any Amiga owner. These 
include SnoopDOS, DiskSalv and even some 
3D programs designed to complement 
commercial packages, as these are support 
programs. If you want to look for some of these, 
then have a look at the Aminet index at one of 
the locations we mentioned earlier. 

If you want to get hold of some or all of the 
software covered in this article, you'll be glad to 
know that as much of it as possible, apart from 
that which is not available to magazine 
Coverdisks, is available on this month's Amiga 
Format cover CD-ROM. If you don't have a 
CD drive, then any PO house will be able to 
help out. ■ 



19 



ShopperFeature 



Comment 



Ben Vost 




I 



\A<M%'i 



s 



Life with fieavy duty storage requirements by Ben Vost 



"So now my 
machine has 
SIX out of the 
possible seven 
SCSI addresses 
used." 



Jaz Drive 



Ho hum, time to reorganise my 
2.6 gigabytes of hard drive 
space. Adding a new hard 
drive to the system seems so 
mundane to me these days, 
but back when my 120Mb 
drive was a signal for people to raise their 
eyebrows in appreciation of the massive 
amounts of storage I had, adding a nevv 
hard drive to the set-up was a cause for 
anxiety attacks and a frantic search for 
enough floppies (and time) to bacit the 
drive up before repartitioning and hoping 
for the best. 

I don't wish to appear blase about this, It's 
just that I need that kind of space for the work I 




Now available in both internal and external versions, the Jaz is big brother to the popular Zip 
drive, although the cartridges can't be shared between them. Tlie Jaz is also much faster than 
the Zip and has the added benefit of not being restricted to SCSI IDs 5 or 6, unlike the Zip. Tl 
Jaz's cartridge works out to about a gig when formatted and the mechanism for inserting or 
removing cartridges is much like its little brother, nice and easy. 

My only problem with the Jaz drive is that the drive and cartridges are too expensive. The 
drive itself costs somewhere in the region of £500 and each cartridge is another £100 again. 
This means that you will need to buy at least four cartridges to save money over buying the ; 

ount of storage as a hard drive. However, things being what they are, the price for tlr' 

probably come down. 




20 



do as a journalist, for my 3D projects and for the 
Mac I emulate using Shapeshifter, so adding 
another 850Mb drive was the best thing that I 
could have done. 

But what about a Jaz drive? What about the 
new SyJet? What about? OK, maybe next time, 
but for now, the deal I had on a Quantum 
Trailblazer was so good I had to grab it with 
both hands. Of course, with hard drive prices 
the way they are. by the time you read this it will 
probably have become apparent that I've paid 
far too much for it. 

So now my machine has six out of the 
possible seven SCSI addresses used, what with 
my original Hitachi 1 Gb drive (£650 just 
eighteen months ago), my Quantum 730Mb 



MO Drives 



September 1996 



, or mag 

dly out of vog 
I able to find secdi 

0MB drives at very good prices, and, if 
aaper than an EZ drive, they still represent 
od value for money. MO drives are pretty 
It at reading data but they are almost 
bearably slow when writing it and since 
» cartridges require formatting t>efore tli^ 
n l>e used you would be well advised t 
ive them formatting for you overnight. 




Issue 66 



Ben Vost 



Comment 



ShopperFeature 



able pr 
e SyQuest ' 
about in a moment. The Zip looks and 
behaves almost like a floppy drive, buti 
and writes at about IMB/sec and holds 
roughly 9SMB of data when formatted. The 
drive itself will set you back about £190 and 
each 100MB cartridge costs roughly £15, br 
you can buy them in packs at a discounted 
rate. The Zip is a smashing little drive which 
is portable, apart from the monster brick of 
a power supply that comes with it I wonder 
why we in the UK didn't get the nice little 
diddy power supply that the German version 
pplied with. The only real problem ' " 
"^p is the fact that you can only uf 




drivu, the CD-ROM, the Zip, ttne new Quantum 
850Mb drive and the tool that makes it all so 
easy and lets me be so cool about slinging 
drives around - my Hewlett Packard SureSlore 
Tape 2000 - a DAT dnve. Actually. Hewlett 
Packard prefer you to refer to the dnve as a 
DDS (Digital Data Storage) drive; this is simply 
because you're not supposed to use Digital 
Audio Tapes for doing backups. 

Still, the important thing is how it performs. 
One thing to bear in mind is the fact that you'll 
still want to leave your machine backing up 
overnight, especially if you have as much space 
as me. Even at the phenomenal rate (compared 
to backing up on floppies or regular tape dnves) 
of about ten meg a minute, my dnves will still 
take a fair while to back up. The other point to 
bear in mind is that if you want verification 
turned on, then you can double the backup time. 
So a gig backup will only take about one hour 
and 40 minutes (lOOOMb/IOMb per min), but 
with verification, it will take about three hours 
and 20 minutes. 

However, where the DAT drive really scores 
over regular tape backup is in searching for files 
that are on tape. I used to run a Commodore 
tape drive before I got this baby and you could 
wait for an hour on a 230lvlb tape for one file to 
be retneved. Now I can search through over 
eight gigs of data in less time, thanks to the way 
the streamer works. 

Making Space 

File retrieval itself is a bit slower than backing up 
your hard drive, running as it does at about 
seven meg a minute, but this is still not too 
shabby. And this is what allowed me to (takes a 



66 




"Of course, this 
drive isn't the 
pinnacle of DAT 

backup, by any 
means." 



deep breath) back up my current tvlac drive 
(730Mb Quantum), restore onto the 850Mb 
Quantum, repartition the 730Mb and then 
reformat it using nearly the same partition names 
I had given to three of the partitions on my 1Gb 
Hitachi (Workbench, Work and Other), then 
back up the files from the remaining partition 
Data. Then, once all that was done, I deleted all 
the partitions on the Hitachi and made it one big 
partition called Data again. Finally, having 
restored all the files I had just backed up onto 
Data and after having renamed the other 
partitions, I had regained almost exactly the 
same set up as before, only now with an extra 
730M:b of space, hurrah' 

Of course, this drive isn't the pinnacle of 
DAT backup, by any means. Drives nowadays 
usually have backup rates of up to 30Mb a 
minute, about three times the speed of my HP. 
Even so, my 1 0MWsec HP is perfectly adequate 
for my current needs, especially considering the 
fact that I don't have the necessary spare cash 
to shell out on buying myself a newer drive. 



EZ135 Drive 




crash In wtist some cynics ^ 
perate attempt to regain the market 
are they lost when the Zip and Jaz came 
It, which must make it one of the best 
ilue drives on the market at the moment 
le EZ drive makes a good comparison 
th the Zip since its cartridges can hold 
iighly 135MB of data and they are 
nilar in price to the Zips, The drive will 
en read and write data faster than the 
}, The only thing against the EZ drive is 
SyQuest heritage. Loading a cartridge 
; far more involved than for a Zip and 
_ikes a lot longer with SyQuest's 
trademark push-button-move-flimsy-lever- 
approach. The drive itself feels fairly solid 
' '<t SyQuest cartridges are, of course, 
wned for their fragility. 



Sc'ptcmiic 1996 



AuiGAi 



21 



ShopperFeature 



Comnnent 



Ben Vost 




PD Dr/Ves 












.< 






since it doesn't create gold discs. It 
uses cartridges that can only be reat 
by another PD drive, but these 

- cartridges can be reused. The PO 
drive also acts as a quad speed 
caddyless CD-ROM drive, meaning 
you can get rid of your existing CD- 
ROM drive. Tlie major probiem witti 
the PO drive is the fact that, lil«e th* 
MO, it oniy writes at eicruciatingly 

^stow rates, although the read spee^ 


I 


t^.- . 


t 




>^ 


^ 


r 


^H 











Assigns 

One thing that strikes you the more space you 
have at your disposal is that the better it needs 
to be organised (and the more space you need}. 
For this reason, my method of madness involves 
the use of that delightful tool ot AmigaDOS, the 
Assign statement. 

I try to keep everything locked away in 
convenient pigeonholes so that I may find it 
easily and assigns help me greatly in doing this. 
Got a load of pictures? 'Assign Bitmaps; 
Data: bitmaps'. Got tons of animations: Assign 
Anims: Dataianims'. Get the idea? Of course, 
you don't need to go overboard with that idea, 
otherwise your list of assign statements w'M 
make your Amiga take longer to boot, it will 
chew up more memory and it'll make navigating 
through DOpus that little bit harder. Still, adding 
assigns is preferable to having huge numbers of 



Amiga problems with 
strorage 



to exactly how much storage 

can address. Due to limitations 

' Wltti the rigid disk block standard of 

iMining partitions, an Amiga owner can 

^Mily' have 4.3Gb ol storage space atta< ' 

to his or her machine. This total doesn't 

Include CD-ROM drives or tape strai 

but any media that can be written till 
normally like Jai drives, Magneto-o| 
drives or hard drives. 




"One thing that 
strikes you is that 
the more space 
you have at your 
disposal, the 
better it needs to 
be organised." 



CD-ROM Writers 



Shape of things to come. 



hard drive prices will 
eir sizes will t>ecome ' 
larger and in the removable media stakes, 
SyQuest are determined to regain the 
ground they have lost to Iomega recently 
with the announcement ot the EZ Flyer 330, 
which will read and write the EZ13S 
cartridges but also has cartridges of its own 
I at 230Mb, and the SyJet, a break away from 
SyQuest's existing technology to a Jaz-style 
cartridge system that can hold 1.3Gb and 
transfer data at over 6Mb/sac (given the 
right controller). 

In addition to this lot, the ma)or 
companies involved in agreeing the 
standards for the replacement of current 
CD-ROM technology are rapidly coming to 
the conclusion that a smaller wavelength of 
, laser light will yield vastly improved 
' amounts of storage space and that, in 
conjunction with the rapidly falling price of 
CD-ROM writers, could herald a new 
standard media in years to come. 



hard drive partitions, something you might feel 
you want if you get a DAT streamer. Don't do itf 
Having several hard drive partitions certainly 
eats more RAM than using assigns and it makes 
more work if you need to repartition to install a 
piece of software and there isn't the room in 
your WorklV-Graphics_[28Mb): partition. 

More Choice 

The choices for Amiga owners when it comes to 
storage space are getting better and better and 
we have to hope that Amiga owners aren't going 
to be crippled by the 4.3Gb limit forever. It 
would also be nice to see some of the 
standards that are now quotidien on the PC 
available on the Amiga. We might not need 
RAID (Rapid Array of Inexpensive Disks) right 
now, but if there is no facility for it in the future 
we will be further marginalised when we actually 
need to gain access to 20Gb of data. ■ 




commonplace for Indhnduals to have 
a CD-ROM writer rather than a CD- 
ROM drive on their machines. With 
drives that are capable of dual speed 
write and quad speed read becoming 
available at only £750, and with the 
media only costing at>out a fiver each 
when bought in bulk, CD-ROM 
writers are becoming an attractive 
proposition for mass storage. The 
only problems with them are that you 
still need to have plenty of spare hard 
drive space in which to create an ISO 
image to go onto the disc and that 
you can only write once to the gold 
discs - make a mistake and you have 
to ditch the disc and start on a new 

one, something that could easily 

i>ecome quite expensive. 




3TnBJ50BBwr57n»s7aw 



A host of new features have 
been added to Final Writer in 
its latest incarnation, and now 
Larry Hickmott is impressed. 

It must be that time of the year in 
the USA because hot on the heels 
of imageFX 2.6 arriving through my 
letterbox came Final Writer 5 from 
Softwood. The list of new features 
in this great rival to Word worth is quite 
outstanding. The ones that hit me in the 
face, not literally thankfully, were tables, 
RTF import, and export and HTML export. 
Of these, the first feature I tried my hand at 
was tables. This is one of the most wanted 
features I know of if my mail bag from Amiga 
owners is anything to go by. It took a little while 
(around 1 seconds in all) to work out how to 
create my first table in Final Writer, but once 
that first step was taken. I soon realised this 
feature is bound to be useful for much more 
than just making boring tables. 

For starters, you can have as little as one 
cell in your table making it perfect for doing 
captions. The line weight for the interior and 
exterior lines can also be set, as can the type of 
fill and the font used. The preferences panel can 




Final Writer version 5 is the best yet with Tattles, 
RTF, HTML and many other new functions. 






msi 



iisssi 






ty» W*k h^ w r™^^ * Ik^ Wi«_< 



">4kitfb^M**H 



a— I ^ifc,> 



■ g' 



With Final Writer you can export files as HTML 
and then use them an the Web. Net fame at last! 



Issue 66 



s^ 



■;Br.i.iy.i;r.r;Fg.i.i.ip»/i.jirg^ivtatei.i.B5rwi 



Anri^Q STWiWtr; 



>Qr copnonft, ■• 



!ISS3_J 



iTiCsn 



Uiiaa_J 






rTiSj"! 



r*"— ~ii 



Although this function Is probably only meant 
for creating tables, I found it just as useful for 
doing single column captions. 



HoTMvtQL PRO a Tor Uiotomoti w^dow* 



P»»»*^<P<'I W*»l|gHfW I 



'g '' ,c * f^' w i%rt" 'fig^ T^r*'»iftg ^ 



ini^ir 'Jl-lf^f^^^r tr ir"if ,.ir II ir. ir^r'ini'^ni^B-in 



You can even control the font used when a 
document hai been transferred to your Amiga. 



be intimidating at first because there are so 
many attnbutes. It would have been more user- 
friendly if Softwood had let you change the 
attributes for a ceil the same way you do for a 
normal graphic. That is, double click on it and 
enter the attributes in a requester. 

Whatever the method, the result is a usable 
tables function which should please all those 
who have been screaming for it for so long. 

Not far behind tables in terms of importance 
is RTF import and export. RTF is a file format 
which was devised so computer users could 
exchange files between programs - a file format 
like ASCII, but with the ability to contain more 
information about the look of the page within the 
word processor. 

This format is particularly useful for taking 
files from a word processor on the PC or 



New Features 



I New Select Font menu item 

I Improved Style Sheet requesters 

I Save different sets of preferences 

I Save Style Stieets to use In other docs 

I Support for document templates 

I Auto Correct 

I ASL file requesters 

I Move sections 

I PreLoad Fonts 

I Tables 

I RTF Export and Import 

I Datatype Support 

I HTML Export 

I Many new AReix commands 



September1996 



L PfiO 3. D for H he reikalt Window* 



^." 






_. 1 ^-—^ — 


-•laatH-* 




















L 


Jk^ _n^ 






•^^m K-"- 


1 »- 1 


■ k 





■»l — ■ T c*» > a*^— »■* I - w^w^ l^trtmt^ fjS 



Loading In files from ward processors on the PC 
is easy using Final WritWs new RTF filter. 



Upgrades 


Any other Softwood 


package 


£39.95 


FW Lite to FW5 




£29.95 


FW4 to FW5 




£22.95 


FW4 to FW5 




£64.95 


Including Windows 95 plus a Web 


page 


FW4 to FW5 + 




£59.95 


Plus a Web page 






FW4 to FW5 + 




£34.95 


WindowsSS Version 







Macintosh and importing them into your Amiga 
word processor. Final Writer even lets you set 
up font remapping tables so that you have 
control over what fonts it uses when substituting 
Amiga fonts for PC ones. 

The one new feature which I think is a 
particularly smart move is HTML export. This 
enables you to create Web pages without 
having to know about HTML and all the funny 
codes necessary to tell a Web browser how a 
page should look. There is also support for 
images on a Web page, although working with 
pictures in this way is not as straightforward as 
it is when just pnnting to paper. 

As well as these features, there are many 
others including support for ASL requesters, 
template documents, different preferences files 
and much more, Although Final Writer 4 came 
with a grammar checker and a much changed 
interface, I feel there is more meat to this 
upgrade, and as such version 5 should be very 
popular with Final Writer users all over the world 
- I certainly found it a much improved version. 
Everything I threw at it worked including loading 
in a BMP image from the PC using Final 
Writer's newly added support for datatypes. 
Quite honestly, I'm impressed! ■ 

Final Writer 5 

£74.95 Full version 



_SuppI1er: S oftwood Europe 
Contact: 01773 8.36 781 



Verdict: 95% 




Star Buy 



23 



ShopperReview 



Accelerators 



Simon N Goodwin 



GVR 



68060 



Simon N Goodwin checks out the top-oHhe range Amiga accelerator from GVP and Power 
Computing. Is this the fastest Amiga yet? 



Today's fastest Amigas run the 
latest, and reputedly the 
ultimate, in Motorola's 680XX 
family of processors - the 6S060, 
capable of a peak throughput of 
150 million instructions per second. The 
68060 is clocked at 50 MHz, slow by Intel 
standards, but it can do a lot in each clock 
cycle. 68000 family chips can read, test and 
write values in one operation. A 486 or 
Pentium needs three separate instructions 
to do the same job. 

T>ie 680S0 has four internal execution units 
- two for integer instructions, one for floating 
point, and a branch unit to accelerate decisions 
made as a program runs. Branches are a major 
source of delays on the 68040 - it can perform 
most instructions in a single cycle but needs up 
to five cycles to work out each branch. 

In the 68060, Motorola have excelled 
themselves by coming up with a scheme where 
branch instructions take literally no time at all, as 
long as the processor correctly predicts the flow 
of control, which it can in the majority of cases. 

The 68060 'branch cache' remembers the 
conditions and destination of the last 256 
branches. It looks ahead in the program to find 
branches which have not yet been reached, and 
sets up a diversion so that logically (as opposed 
to physically) consecutive instructions are 
fetched, following the most likely flow of control. 
It then monitors the actual conditions, so it can 
reinstate the alternative path if the predictions 
turn out wrong. 

The 68060 has two 8K caches for data and 
instructions. The instruction cache is read-only, 
but the data cache supports writes as well as 
reads, a major improvement over earlier chips 
like the 68030 and Intel 486. The snag of this 
'copyback' cache is that data is written to 
memory late. This can cause compatibility 
problems with naive programs and peripheral 
drivers, so GVP supply a utility to turn copyback 
off if required. 

Current Amiga software runs at somewhere 
between two and four times the speed of an 
A4000('040 when transplanted to a 68060. 
There is considerable scope for improvement as 
programs could be optimised so as So make full 
use of the 68O60's dual integer units and its 
faster instructions. 

The improvements over the 68040 - already 
pretty impressive • are too many to list, but 



24 




include co.mplex addressing in a third the 
number of clock cycles and 32-bit multiplication 
at seven to ten times the speed of a 68040 at 
the same clock speed ■ up to 20 times faster 
than an A4000/040 running the same code. 

There are, however, chinks in the 60860's 
armour. Some complicated 68020 instructions 
are not implemented in hardware, and must be 
trapped and replaced with a software sequence. 
These include the rarely used CAS2, CMP2 and 
CHK2 instructions, and integer multiplication 
and division giving 64-bit results. 

The only instruction missing from the 68060 
which was in the 68000 repertoire is MOVER 
the peripheral move instruction. This is rarely 
used for its original purpose, and most 
assembler programmers grow old without ever 
using it, but a few hackers have found it handy 
when accessing bytes in the reverse order used 
on IBM clones. 

GVP supply a 68060 library which 
intercepts these unsupported instructions and 
emulates them. This works, and the emulation is 
as fast as earlier chips in any case, but the 
interception is not, so you get less than 
expected performance on programs that use 
these instructions. 

Such programs include PC Task, Imagine, 



September 1996 



ChaosPro, Mand2000', Nemac IV and 
Breathless, As 6B060s become more widely 
available, keen coders will update their 
programs to avoid these instructions, and the 
need for emulation will disappear. 

The board 

In hardware terms the GVP 68060 strongly 
resembles the best-selling Warp Engine, from 
MacroSystem US, The main difference is that it 
has a 68060 processor rather than a 68040, 
giving it two or three times the processing 
speed of a VVarp. Otherwise the design is 
strikingly similar - you get a 32-bit processor 
and 32-bit SCSI 2 FAST disk controller, with 
four local SIMMs set up for 1 28-bit burst 
transfers, and a tangle of logic to communicate 
with the Amiga motherboard. 

The reason A4000 processor cards are so 
complicated is that they must fit in a slot 
originally designed for the A3000 and its 68030 
processor. This was an ideal upgrade for the old 
Amiga design, with its mixture of 8. 1 6 and 32- 
bit parts (ports, custom chips and RAM 
respectively). The 68020 and 68030 support 
'dynamic bus sizing' so they will plug straight in, 
with hardly any extra logic - but they crunch 
instructions relatively slowly. 



Issue 66 



Simon N Goodwin 



Accelerators 



ShopperReview 



Modem processors like the 68040 and 
68060 have a radically different memory access 
scheme, designed around 32 and 1 2B-bit 
transfers to service their large on-chip caches, 
and need a rnass of electricltery to shuffle, delay 
and wait for old-style transfers. 

The result is that A4000 accelerator 
manufacturers have tried to put more and more 
hardware onto their boards, to reduce the need 
for slow and clumsy communication with the 
rest of ttie Amiga system. The first development 
was to put memory onto the processor card, 
where it can be accessed much faster than the 
68030 'fast' RAfi/l on the motherboard. 

SCSI standards 

The next step was to put a SCSI (Small 
Computer Systems Interface) controller into the 
accelerator, speeding up the connection 
between processor, drives and memory. 

Serious Amiga systems use SCSI Dt^A 
(Direct Memory Access) controllers. SCSI 
dnves are slightly more expensive than IDE 
(Integrated Drive Electronics) but much more 
versatile because each drive has its own 
processor and recognises a standard set of 
powerful commands. 

SCSI supports disks, CDs, scanners, tape 
streamers, optical drives and can even link 
computers. Every SCSI device may issue 
commands to any other, sharing connections in 
a 'chain' of up to eight devices, each identified 
by a unique 'ID' number, to 7, generally set by 
switches on the device. 

Internal connections are the same for each 
device, using a 50 way two- row connector, like 
an IDE plug but 25 per cent wider. External 
connections use expensive high-density 50 way 
sockets or expanded versions of the 
'Centronics' printer connector. It's cheapest to 
fit the driives inside the computer, where you can 
use plastic IDC plugs and nbbon cable. 

Old SCSI 1 interfaces got by with a 25 pin 
D-type, like the Amiga serial or parallel ports. 
This CO St -cutting arrangement is used on most 
Apple Macs and Commodore's old 2091 board, 
but it is false economy on SCSI 2. Unlike the 
DKB/Commodcre 4091 and Cyberstorm SCSI 
interfaces, the GVP board I tested had no 
external SCSI connector. GVP's US boss 
Michael Wojciechowski assures me that a high- 
density adaptor fitting the expansion panel at the 
back of the A4000 is in the works, and will be 
bundled with future production. 

It's important to make sure that the devices 
at each end of the SCSI chain are 'terminated', 
so the GVP board has an option to terminate its 
end of the chain. Most drives have switchable 
termination, but occasionally you may need an 
external plug in terminator. SCSI 2 requires 
'active termination', whereas the old, slower, 
SCSI can get by with cheaper 'passive 
termination' - a simple matrix of resistors. 

SCSI devices can be ordered to transfer 
data from one drive to another without 
intervention or blocking other activities. You can 
even tell disks to search themselves for specific 
data patterns, and call you back when they're 
finished. All these advantages mean that the 
total throughput of a SCSI DMiA system is likely 
to far exceed that of IDE or polled SCSI (eg. 
Squirrel), even if the disk mechanisms give the 



Issue 66 




AtBB benchmarks are more indicative of real- 
life speed than tests like Syslnfo. 

same nominal top speed. 

Do not confuse SCSI 2 FAST DMA 
controllers with old, simple SCSI interfaces for 
Zorro 2 or PCMCIA, which cannot access 32 
bit memory directly. These require 'polling' which 
ties up the processor while data is transferred, 
making them much slower when you want 
processing to continue at the same time as 
drive access. 

GVP's chosen SCSI controller chip is the 
same as on the Warp - an NCR 53C710. This 
is probably the best SCSI 2 FAST chip on the 
market. It performs 1 6 byte (1 28-bit) burst 
memory transfers on the accelerator card, so 
SCSI drives run flat out with a barely 
measurable loss of processing power. 

The PD RawSpeed test program showed 
that transfers at over 4Mb per second slowed 
the CPU by a negligible 1 .3 per cent. This test 
used a year-old 1Gb IBM drive from Fourth 
Level Developments. 

The controller is on the same card as the 
memory, and uses the same fast transfer 
mechanism as the processor. The NCR chip has 
its own RISC processor with a simple but 
powerful repertoire of 64 and 96-bit operations, 
any one of which can transfer up to 1 6Mb or 
perform full negotiation to set up a SCSI device, 
in a single instruction! 

You do not program the chip directly - a 
pity as it would be a nice way of blasting data 
around memory at tens of megabytes a second 
- but use the GVP SCSI 2 device to set it off. 
Once started it can select devices, transfer data 



and share the SCSI system with other masters, 
with no need for further inten/ention from the 
Amiga's main processor. 

The GVP has another feature which shows 

its refinement and may make a big difference to 
'power users' who run lots of interrupts over the 
Zorro bus. Heavy interrupt loads tend to be 
associated with networking, data capture and 
fast serial communications. GVP have added a 
jumper to make the SCSI controller 'back off' 
when an interrupt is detected. Other boards, 
including the V»/arp Engime and earlier GVP 
models, let the DMA continue but make the 
interrupt wait, which is technically easier but 
cripples real-time performance. 

Installation 

The GVP accelerator plugs imto the 200-way 
CPU connector on the A4000 motherboard. It 
has about twenty little 'jumper' switches which 
must be correctly set for it to work. They tell it 
the size and speed of your memory and control 
various optional speed-up features. 

The test model came with a manual for the 
68040 version, which was a good mechanical 
guide but did not explain the vital jumper 
settings. These were discussed in four 
additional pages, which were rather confusing 
and contained obvious errors. 

Needless to say it wouldn't work till we 
contacted GVP's UK outlet. Power Computing, 
for more specific advice. So make sure you get 
the full manual, or budget for a few support 
calls. Once we got the settings right the board 
worked flawlessly, but there are too many 
combinations for trial and error to be viable 
unless you're very lucky or very persistent. 

The four 72 pin memory sockets support 
4Mb, 8Mb, 1 6Mb or 32Mb SIMMs. You can 
move the memory from your motherboard, but it 
will not go at top speed unless it uses fast 60nS 
or modern 70 nS chips. You need to slow it 
down for the 80nS SIMMs generally fitted by 
Commodore, and some 'old' 70nS SIMMs; GVP 
recommend 60nS SIMMs to be on the safe 
side, but all my 70nS modules worked fine at 
the top speed. 

Unlike other Amiga accelerators, the GVP 
can perform 'interleaved' access to pairs of 




September 1996 



25 



Shop per Review 



Accelerators 



Simon N Goodwin 




Surprisingly, the graphics "beaciibail" test 
shows a slight supariority over the Cyberstorm. 

SIMMs, fetching 64-bits from two SIMMs in the 
time it would; normally take to read 32-bits from 
one - but this only takes off when your SIMMs 
are fitted in matching pairs. 

The Aminet KICKS PEED program measures 
the time taken to read the entire 51 2K Kickstart 
image ten times. The GVP took 0.49 seconds 
from ROM (versus 0.46 for the Cyberstorm 
68060, and 0.67 for Commodore's 68040 
board), 0.35 seconds with the Kickstart copied 
to a single 4Mb SIMM on the GVP board, 0.21 
seconds with a pair of SIMlMs (allowing 
interleaved access) and 0.19 when I set the 'fast 
memiory' jumper as well. 

These are best-case results; real programs 
do not improve as much, because they rarely 
read memory in such a single-minded 
consecutive fashion, but interleaving still makes 
a useful difference. 



Comparisons 



Anyone thinking of buying the GVP 68060 will 
v^ant to know how it compares with the 
German -made Cyberstorm, from Phase Five. 
The Cyberstorm 68060 is a development of 
their 68040 unit, using the same carrier and 
memory boards with a new processor assembly, 
whereas the GVP is an all-new design for both 
68040 and 68060. SCSI is optional on the 
Cyberstorm, while it's built in by GVP. 

The GVP is easier to install and remove, as 
it comes on one board rather than four, but it's a 
little easier to change the SIMM's on the 
Cyberstorm. Both have good-quality SIMM 
sockets, with plenty of room for double-sided 
SIMMs - an advantage over the densely packed 
sockets on the A4000 motherboard, and the 
ridiculously fragile sockets on the Warp Engine. 

Software support is roughly comparable - 



both come with proprietary programs to format 
and partition devices. All you need to do to 
direct HDTOOLBOX to a real SCSI interface is 
change the tool type or add a parameter to 
indicate the replacement device - I used the 
shell command hdtoolbox gvpscsi2, device - the 
device name must be in lower case letters. 

Both systems include 68060 libraries to 
emulate instructions that the new CPU does not 
handle in hardware. The Phase Five version has 
an option to patch offending instructions in-line, 
rather than trap them as they crop up, which 
boosts the performance of Imagine and 
Mand2000, among others. GVP offers notably 
faster emulation of transcendental functions, 
giiving an advantage of up to 1 3 per cent on 
some AIBB tests, 

GVP supply KSREMAP, a program to copy 
the Amiga operating system from ROM to fast 
memory. This gives a noticeable improvement in 
speed but in practice the CPU caches soak up 
much of the difference. 

Unlike most 'kickers' KSREMAP has the 
advantage that it works transparently, with no 
need to reset the machine, but the snag is that 
you end up with the same system you had 
before, just faster. There are various programs, 
such as KICK, SoftBoot and SKICK, which let 
you load alternative operating systems from disk, 
but these require a reset and do not work at all 
on the 68060, 

This is a snag if you want to "downgrade' to 
Kickstart 1 .3 or 2 for compatibility reasons, or if 
you want to use one of the test kickstarts 
available to registered developers. So far there's 
no way to do this on the GVP. 

Phase Five followers could try CyberMap 
from Aminet. This is touted as a replacement for 
the Commodore developer utility MAPROM, 
which loads a ROM image from disk into RAM; 
unfortunately I was not able to make it work on 
my A4 000 -(-Cyberstorm set-up, and Phase Five 
Developer Support could only comment, 
"unsupported feature, sorry," It should be fixed 
on their Mark 2 board. 

The Cyberstorm package includes a version 
of Enforcer, an invaluable tool for trapping 
programming errors, but the Phase Five version, 
known as CyberGuard, has some gaps - in 
particular it cannot be disabled once turned on. 
Right now this gives Phase Five the edge over 
other 68060 vendors for developers and users 
who value memory protection, but this may soon 
change as the author of Enforcer, Mike Sinz, has 



TABLE 1 : 


Fast memory speeds, 


measured by Busiest 0.07 


Manufaturer 


GVP 


Cyberstorm 


Commodore 


Processor 


6S060 


63060 


630400 perati on 


read word 


43J 


42.6 


12.7 


read long 


87.? 


55.0 


13.0 


read multiple 


SSJ 


$S.3 


13.0 


write word 


4Z3 


37.6 


7.0 


write long 


47.2 


40.2 


6.9 


write multiple 


ao-o 


36.4 


7.0 


Note: All figures ire In Megabytes per second. 







26 



September 1996 



recently been loaned a 68060 and intends to 
make an update freely available. 

I've yet to find any virtual memory utility that 
supports the 68060 memory management unit, 
which is subtly different from the 68040 one, If 
you currently run VMIM or GigaMem, the 68060 
may not yet be ready for you. 

The overall performance of the GVP is very 
similar to that of the Cyberstorm Mark 1 , which 
should come as no surprise as both use a 50 
MHz 68060 processor with local memory. The 
GVP has a memory speed advantage if you 
install fast SIM Mis in pairs. Busiest 0.07 (from 
Aminet) found long word writes to fast memory 
1 9 per cent faster than on the Cyberstorm, and 
almost seven times the speed of Commodore's 
own 68040 board, slugged by Copy back and 
its lack of support for fast 1 6 byte line transfers. 

Pricewise, at £749 the GVP 68060 costs 
£50 more than a basic Cyberstorm, and £50 
less than a Mark 2 Cyberstorm 68060 with 
SCSI interface. If you can live without fast SCSI 
then the Cyberstorm is cheaper, but you may 
suffer if you decide to upgrade to SCSI later, 

I've been waiting 1 8 months to receive a 
working CyberSCSI and I have been fobbed off 
repeatedly, while the GVP system worked first 
time, and has continued to work ever since, ■ 



TABLE 2: 


Cyberstorm 


versus GVP 




AIBB Benchmark results 




GRAPHICS 






Ellipse 




1.04 


Line 




<tM 


Write Pixel 




\J0» 


INTEGER 






EmuTest 


1.00 




tnstJest 




a95 


Matrix 




1.03 


Sieve 




0.98 


Imath 




1.00 


Dhrystone 


1.01 




MemTest 


0.97 




Sort 




0.96 


TGtest 




0.93 


FLOATING POINT 




Savage 


1.13 




FLOPS 


1.01 




Fmath 




1.00 


TranTest 


1.13 




FMatrIx 




ijm 


FTrace 




txa 


Beach l>a II 


1.05 




CplxTest 


1.00 




Cyberstorm 060 


= 1.00 




Aiee -cl -#2 -fsSO -cs50 





Issue 66 



AMIGA REPAIRS i 



FIXED PRICE ONLY £42.99 

* Price includes PARTS, LABOUR, DELiVERY & VAT 

* 90 Day warranty on ail repairs 

* 24 Hour turn-around on most repairs 



and CD32 onl^) 



EST. 14 YEARS 



* Ail upgrades purchased from us fitted free with repair 

* Includes FULL DiAGNOSTICS, SERVICE & SOAK test 
^ If drive or keyboard need replacing add CIO.OO 
AMIGA A1200 Repairs only £$2.99 Fully Inclusive 

■ SPECIAL OFFERS 1 

^T" ' ' J adaptor t allows you to u^e a tC keyhtmrd ott ynur sXiJiiga} 

' xsmu ,wm A nm Aiom A3om A4m}f) and cmi Prke only £25Ml 

]s iCherrv.'ChiiX)nyj , . £16.Q0 A5i30 Motherboard v6A £59 00 

£25 CM ^'^^ populated (KS205) 



supply 
tWve . , 



. E35.0O 



A5CMD Internal Drive 
A600.'120O InTeirnal Drive 



£29 95 



y.,. CHIPS \ I CHIPS 1 Q 



CHIPS 



837 2y> IMej Ajnus 


CU.IO 


5375 2MC3 Agnus 


£14.30 


LISA (AiaOOl 


Clt.7* 


8371 Alice (fl1200) 


«M-7» 


8362 DertiiB (ASM) 


M.M 


8373 Super Denise 


C1S.4* 


571fl Gary 


C7-M 


8520 CIA (A500/-J 


xia.** 


8520 CIA (A600/1 200) 


Ml.** 


8364 Paula (A500't) 


C11.M 


33BJ Pi.,a iPLCC. 


CI^TO 



jCO CPU 
, iieoDACIAlJOOi 
KiUsiart 12 
Hickslart 1 3 
Kickslan 2,04 
Krckslan 2 05 
Kickslan 3.1 (A500) 
Bom Sharer 
NEW Modulalors 
Xchange Modulalors 
CD32 ROM DmvE 
A500 Molhe'DOJrO 64 



£8. to 

119' lO 

£4.10 



cvs.oo 

CIS.OO 
EIS.OO 

Cft.ao 

£¥9.00 



CIA.OO 



A 5 200 Keyboard 
A50ft'60Q/1200PSU 
CD32 PSU 
A20ffl),'A3000 PSU 
2 5 HARD DRIVES 

WE CAN SUPPLY ANV AMIGA 
500.'6M/1?0O SPARE PART 
AND KEEP A FULL STOCK 



C*4.0O 

P.O.A. 



Add CI .50 PSP on chips. E3-00 P&P on Privies & PSUs We reserve the right to refuse repairs 



E 



^r!Tr^TATTENTmM ALL DEALERS .***** 



Ouf Company offers Itie "; .' . :^-:,' .- .'-^.y.- ■, .a:' service on all home computefs 
Cfedil lacility available SENO FOft FFitt ihFuiiMAi lilh PACK & SPARES CATALOGUE TODAr 



SeniceHOIlJETei (0116) 2470069 

MX {Oil 6)2558643 ^ 

lis Lnin Rnri UIluUj LEZVF 'tc-ji^x^vCi-fi. 



I 




C'ttrnpuiff\Seri'ic't'.s 

A Division of D A CompuTecs Hd 



fDl\K 



"^ 



Computers 



/4iHCf^ ^ipfn€i4i€4^ 



2.5" 810Mb Hdd & Software £229.99 

2.5" 1Gb Hdd & Software £346.99 

630Mb 3.5" Hdd & Software £189.99 

1Gb 3.5" Hdd & Software £199.99 

4Mb Ram Expansion £99.99 

8Mb Ram Expansion £145.99 

68030 Viper Mkll 4Mb £1 66.99 

68030 Viper Mkll 8Mb £2 1 2.99 

Viper SCSI Adaptor £69.99 

68040 Falcon 0Mb £399.99 

68040 Falcon 4Mb £459.99 

68040 Falcon 8Mb £489.99 

Squirrel SCSI Interface £59.99 

Dual CD-Rom & Squirrel £177.99 

Quad CD-Rom & Squirrel £244.99 

All prices include VAT. E&OE. 
Post and Packing £5.00 UK, £15.00 Europe. 



E-mail: dna@dna-comp.co.ul< 



Hempstead Lane, Hailsham, 
Telephone (01323) 849984 



jTST?ALFAQUATRO 



Speoiylly niLido hjiJ^v^e miJ software. Allows 4 ATAPl devices i.e. 2 IDE hard disk & 2 IDE 
CD ROM 111 ..^MICiA 4()*MI imcmal IDE conlrnller, Ihmugh Alfapoweron AMIGA 5m)/,^(X)+ 
.uid piisMhU .\Miri.-\ \im: includes IDHI-TX Sofuvm- (does nol use Zorro Sloti £99.00 



mm ETHERNETT CARD FOR AMICA 



£185.00 



J \1 y/ MULTI I/O CARD FOR AMIGA 1500/1000/4000 'SPIDER' 

.-\lEs\i.- .S [>un tu^J] spccdi NLTial cuij, .*>7fi(MJi Byud, rate on ji\ LhLinntls .vimuluncinisK. OuipLii 
thrnugh 8DB25 plugv Elcclromagnetic Interference suppre^ision. Suitable for Chatline 
opcrunons. [nEcmci *.SL.lP/PPP/Di;il upk Rcmoie ilerminals. Bar Code readers. Serial prinicrs. 
Iiiipnivt the elTlaVnev -^nd prnduclivits nf vuur .\miga s^ith SPIDER £29Si00 



Hard Drives for A600/A1200 



:.,^":i()MB E99.00 ;.5"42ttMI-( 
2.5" 2,50MB E200.00 2.5" ,540MB 
2.5" .MOMB £149.00 2.5"SIOMB 



3.5" 540MB 
.1.5" 850MB 
.1.5" I.OCIG 
.1.5" L2G1G 
.1.5" 2.0GIG 



£129.00 
£159.00 
£175.00 
£1 79.00 
£239.00 



£199.00 
£199.00 
£249.00 

(includL-^ instructions and instullation software) 

CD Rom Drives 

Hard Drivei + controller tor: AS00(+>/AlS«0/A2O«0/A3CM>0/A4O00 
12()MB £159.00 I.OGIG £249.00 

liOMU El 79.00 I 2Gin £269.00 

.i4(tMH £209.00 4Mm:\tLrii;.l RAM l<)rA5(K)/5(K)+ £129.00 



IDE Quad Speed CD-ROM Drives 



liir .AHK)/5(«i* 

ireijuirci AltaPo\^er vft.ii + Hard Dnvei 

I. ir ANI.Ii'A 1 2m (mt CDil emulation i (PCMCIA i 

li >r A 1 5(Xt;A2IK*VA.1(XK)/A4(K)() 





256 Grey Scale Scanners/ AIEaSciln Pliu 
Scanner Pad £9.95 (Fhkk Mfnu Any Scannkh) 
Multitace III card 
AT'Bus'XOOS IDE controller 
Octogon-ZOOS SCSI controller 
AttaPower A500 IDE controller 



£99.00 



C79.00 
C69.00 
C99.00 
C99.00 



Ram Cards/Memory 



A.5()(l+ 1MB w/o 
AftOO 1MB w/o 
A 1 2(10 OMB with 
A 1200 2.MB with 
A 1 200 4MB with 
A 1 200 KMB with 



clock 
clock 
clock 
clock 
clock 
clock 



£20.00 
£20.00 
£49.95 
£69.95 
£79.95 
£119.95 



72pin SIMMS 

2MB £39.00 
4MB £44.00 
8MB £99.00 

ZIP RAMS 

£e9.95/2MB 



Grade A 

Double 
Density 

Disks: 
50 disks 

£i2.oo 
100 disks 

£20.00 



optical Mouse £29.95 

Optical Mouse Mat £5.00 

Amiga PSU for A500, AbOO & AlXOO £29.95 




Apollo 1220 25MHz Accelerator 

(ii\c \oui A 1200 350' r Perloimanct; Includes Clock & 25MHz FPU 



1220 Bare Board 

1220 with 4MB Memorj 

Viper Board 1230 with 4MB-33MHz 



£99.95 
£149.95 
£169.95 



^^ 



Auto Mouse/ 

Joystick 
Switch £12.95 




fmi 



100 watt Speakers E39.95 
240 watt Speakers £49.95 
30 Sound Speakers £59.95 



lExtemal 
JFloiqiy Drive 
£39.95 

With ^voufh Port 
Mega Mouse 400 £9.95 

Mega Mouse Plus £12.95 

(ThreL" button versicin with K' cahk* 
Pcrtormatice 97% A.U.I) 

All prices include VAT. Please add £3,50 P&P for items under £30.00, £5.00 for item.? over 
£30.00, £8.00 P&P for Scanners. Speakers & Hard Drives, £10.00 P&P for nexl day. 

r liplJt'Tilmjyc jutcpls Access. Visa. Cheques & Poslal Orders. H&Ot, Prces subject to change wuhout nolicc 
GikhIs sulsiccl 111 avdilatiiiits .SiJciritK'aEiLins sublet! m tfinngc wirhoul notice. 





-Goldenlmage (UK) Ltd 

I nit dS. Hallinurk Trading l-statc, ^^ w^smmrrm ^ 

Eiujnli Vl;iy. >XVnihk-y. MiJdx HA9 OlJi BABIES v 

Sales Hotline No: 0181 9009291 r^r oisi wo 9281 



!8I I 



Shop per Classifieds 



September 1996 



Issue 66 




For inform 



ia the ONLY 100% ski-idhi! Amip Mapziiitt 



contact HELEN WATKINS uo 

01225 442244 

Free typesetting/design service 



' I>IIVEEISr:SI01I>J „. 



We die Looli^cF lor htgh nTLiAUry ^m«s. utUJbH. &ivd 

educaTianal iititts !Q add id oin lictncewuB' sdieine. 

Cood bL-manihly lO^alvf p&ymen^, prof^ionaL product 

p[CS«niAUDn and inlemationa] covera^ 
iSend evaluatiotB Co address shtrwn twicnw, lasi repLyl 

TBl/ruc: 0170S S88137 

E niAll: Phi l&wa re Sd.dcniQn.CD.uk 

fMfntrni wci iAOOi.lTHAial'iM} 

1 LDWFr MIN Ckiiff, Coldthwp*. Hqllh<r^4Un Hi 9|LV 



ertislni' fi 



KE\^ -II 

Sofirtvare 



Tt5P QlfALm^ AMIGA PI) & SH.\KEM,\Rf 



ntt. 11MI iy>% pnKiiLut» ut 






Sf>ITII ( Kll^lKlN 
St RItF.Y i: R 2 '>VS 
ITIj OIKI 6^^ Iftl^ 



TMl- LF.tDER-OTHERM AS i>M1 liltli*W 



he Film & Video Institute 

24C Wt-M Streti, lipsonii, Surrey. 

KTIK7RJ IT (M37: 734672 



Membership Includes: 

■ Bi-rnoiiihl^ nm^Li/iriL' 
' Kihii & Video Librar) 

• Copynp,hl Clfararcc • Mwxl \f usic 

■ Tniining/l'sifT Grnupfv (CLimpuierised video) 
' C"tHi5pe(»u>nsyFestna]fi 

• Jmniiir A Youth members wcltuTncd 



•'ARNOLD COMPUTER SUPPLIES'' 

Blank Disks £i$-vO iKr SO tnc, Ubeli 

DSHD Dicks JC1Z-$Q per 50 (Fn-Ioniuncil) 

PD LIBRARY NOW OPEN! 

Plaai* f4itd four 1 tt fksi sfampi f« talologvt 

Many '^oft ilems s?oc*eo 

Pieasa phone or fan lor laCBSl prices 

Tfeli «ltS 9t« Arry Fus ens 95^ iMi 

Bat ry VoHCCf 11 Campion Street^ Amotdt 

^ Nottingham NGs »GR . 




OUR MONITOR £10 



K-.tr • your i>ld AiTii«rpd MonHOr 

'ijt i cr lip R G & cotcHj.^ picTure t 
'Tipiin«<f ncrto iou«>d 

CUT 



£10 



3(ef«o Spcjkcri 
i«:lncKHrt»d £9 £15 

"*^5) Ptoure Only ft £lO 

'AS, Hagmrs EttccroAki, 
She«nie». lOntMIEIl lUD 
334 Monci;r b^tl' ipp'<3Vil PAP mt 

O i£^ DELIVERT 2 DAYS 



nPSnmMx 5oflvra™ From 5p pw itam 
■■r** Ijp9fad»i an UliMiM punh»M<(l trom QVCS. Mntf Iff 
v*i^)on bidt. ind ii will b« npi»c»i by iiw ntw vtnion 
Owr 5.000' utebrrty pics. Ctnitf. Erika. Ellt. Pirn Lm >te 

|CK«r 5C0 Slar Trek DS9 and Vv^tf pics 

JFkatesl Slup»shin«r 3 i 

litend SAE or ^ For ulaloguc flwnc 1 0-Spm Mw Fn 

"^'^HUfc Ftk 9n «)L orderi o< C3 00 or mfiin 0131 357 24S7 





Pri 



is from 



P |.:i^r order 
Music, K>i>( 




Hgx^RHiSTRH 



UTURE PD 



Dept AS4. 64 StaplefOfd RoKl, Luton LU2 BAY 

TtiephoiM 015B2 aeisT 



• Shop with us instead, and get 
SEVEN DISKS FREE 

• Ask about TEN DlSh PACKS! 
£L48 with FREE P&P »r send 

2 X tst class stamps for cat. disks 

• Fast service guaranteed, ot g^t a 
lefund voucher with your dbks! 



.\niinet 

Amos 

17 Bit 

Ass^sins 

and more! 




16,000+ 
titles 

&mi 

loyal tj- 
discount! 



TDK brand 40p 



' . 



)l::iih: 




Electrics 
Vl-I 



Digital Designer 

Design and simulate digital electronic 
circuits using simple and complex gales. 
Myltipie logic levels and drive permit realistic 
circ uit behaviour. 

( ET9-95 Includes PAP ) 

# Multiple schcmauc sheeu per project 

# Simple gates and complex TTL gates 

# Simuladon with waveform recording 
(Single and Bus signals) 

%' 0. I . X (unknown), and Z (float) levels 

# Sj'nthetic 7'Segment displafy 

#' AR.ex>c support for simul^tfon scripts 

# ARexx Shell for interactiive simulation 
Comes with AmigaGuide' instructions. 
Workbench 2 or greater required. 



hri^ StrmL'. IIM Weat 7th Ave.» Vancouver, 
Britivh Columbia, Canada VAH IBS 
PHOIME; 604 733 6972 

EMAIL: chH* »<«-mi-<C^fi 



BjamssmBsssuiiM 



02 


7^ Save EEE's - Use Us! 
[gj Free Cat. Disk With First Order 


^^^^^ij!js^^m> 


Sm 


w 


PK001 


Aga Games Vol 1 


14 


E7 


PK002 


Ecs Games Vol 1 


14 


E7 


PKOOG 


Aga Games Vol 2 


14 


£7 


PKa<M 


Ecs Games Vol 2 


14 


£7 


PK005 


WB Utils 


10 


E5 


PKooe 


Printer Utils 


4 


£2 


PK0O7 


Aga Demo Maniac 


20 


£10 


PKD08 


Ecs Rave Mania 


16 


£8 


PK009 


Useful Utilities 


12 


£6 


PK010 


Tower of Sound 


24 


£12 


PK011 


Magic Workbench Set 


24 


£12 



We seil single disks as weil. 

Pi ease phone for details and 

order details on: 

0-I285 656817 



Buy at TRADE 

DIRECT PRICES'. 



^o^^to*K iVlar/7et 



DEVELOPMENTS 



Leading British Manufacturers of RAM expansions to all major distributors and dealers are ha\ ing a 
STOCK CLEARANCE of A500. A500+ & A600 RAM Boards at RIDICULOUSLY LOW PRICES! 






A500 512k w/o clock 
A500 512k with clock 
A500P1US 1Mb 



£1 1 .gS A600 1Mb w/o clock - £1 6-95 
C16-95 A60() 1Mb with clock - £24>95 
£15*95 3-5" External Floppy -£39-95 



A1 200 Ram Accelerator 



CD32 S-PORT Network your 
CD32 and Amiga! Gives your CD32 a 
keyboard and gives your Amiga a CD- 
ROM. Simple set-up. fastest Sernet yet 
for only £24-95 (comes complete with 
serial cable and Network CD32 software). 



FREE GIFT! 



Call to find out more. 



COMBINATION OFFER! 



Buy any Ram 

Board and get a 

3-5" Floppy 

Drive for 

only £36951 



able:- 4 x CD-Roms, Hard 



Other products avai 

drives, '030 Accelerator etc. . All at competitive prices. 



^-J^^ 



Runs at up to 2*95 
MIPS - Uses standard 
72pin simm - Zero Wait 
State - Optional Floating 
Point Unit - Real Time 
Batterv' Backed Clock 
PCMCIA Compatible 
(up to 4Mb) 

0Mb - £44-95 
4Mb - £94-95 
8Mb - £144-95 

Internal Real Time 
33MhZ FPU - £38-99 Cl»ck now only C8-99 



coiRBiiiAnoH omti 



Buy an FPU with a 

Ram Board and 
pay only C34»99! 



STOCK CLEARANCE/STOCK CLEARANCE 



PAYMENT: Simplv call with your 
ACCESS / VISA / SWITCH or 
send Cheques / POs made out to: 



Marpet Developments, 57 & 58 
Glasshouses Mill. Glasshouses, 
Harrogate, N.Yorkshire HGl 4EL 



DELIVERY: Costs just £2.50 
(including VAT) for insured 
next day delivery! 



Mct^at^ n'K! 



TEL: (01423) 712600 
FAX: (01423) 712601 

All items suhjucl in availsihiiily & changL' without nolicc. E&OE. 






Larry Hickmott 



Ima 



Larry Hickmott delves deep 
into his pocket for this graphics 
package. . . and doesn 't regret it. 



When it comes to working 
with graphics, the 
Amiga is as good as 
any machine I know of. 
Not only is it blessed 
with easy to use 
programs such as Deluxe Paint and 
Personal Paint, but there are also powerful 
applications such as ImageFX, which has 
just been updated by US- based company, 
Nova Design. 

To give you a measure of how good 
ImageFX is, here at LH Publishing we have both 
PCs and Macintosh computers, but when we 
need to process images, more often than not it's 
ImageFX we turn to. Not only is it easier to use 
than most graphics programs on foreign 
platforms, it is also continually being made more 
powerful with the addition of more effects like 
those in version 2.6. This latest update follows 
hot on the heels of a number of others such as 
ImageFX 2, 2.1 and 2.1a. Those of you who 
own ImageFX 2 or later can upgrade to 2.6 for 
less than £40. 

Upon running the new version. I was glad to 
see that the interface was pretty much the same 
as before. Dig a little deeper, however, and you 
find a number of new features. 

ImageFX 2.6 has improved support for 
CyberGraphX, enabling you to work in 24-bit in 
all painting modes. With this also comes a 
speed improvement in screen redrawing. 
Graphics boards supported by ImageFX include 
CyberVision64, Picassotl. Retina Z3, GVP 
Spectrum, Piccolo and Dommio. 

The main improvements, however, can be 
found in ImageFX' s extra special effects. Hot 



1 






o™». 11 


Psttii 


1 -*- 




iHmMt Mm* » «r btz*t 1 BB 


1 




^1 Hsi<B*ror«u««r»ai WCH 


" 



A very Important feature with ImageFX is Us 
ability to use tiartt disk space lor slaring image 
data whici) is being processed by the program. 




Browser is Just one of the utilities that comes 
witt> ImageFX. It enables you to create 
thumbnail icons of images, Ttiese can then be 
viewed in requesters within ImageFX. 




ones such as fire, where you can create a burst 
of flames like that from a spacecraft (seemly 
popular with Amiga owners), or a forest fire of 
intense ferocity. It isn't the ability to create the 
fire effects that is so stunning though, but more 
the way you can configure the function to create 
different types of fires and fire-like effects. 

This power has always been ImageFX's 
strong point, so it comes as no surpnse here. 
However, an interesting point which arises from 
this level of power is that, in use, taking 
advantage of the features does require a lot of 
expenmentation to get the desired effect. This is 
what makes it fun to use. 

If fire is a bit too hot for you, then why not 
try something cooler to jazz up your snapshots? 
A function like Bubbles, for example. This 
creates transparent bubbles over the top of your 
image and. like fire, the number of bubbles, their 
size, colour and so on can all be controlled. 
There is even a preview window to get an idea 
of how the finished image will look. 

That isn't all, though. Photographers with 
stars in their eyes can put away the star filters 



New Features 



I Improved CybefGraphX Support 
I Printer module for Fargo's FotoFun 

printer 
I A Super Prefs Pnnter module tor 

improved output to paper 
I Support for Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 3c 

and 4c flatbed SCSI scanners 
I Module for removing wires, support 

rods and film scratches from a sequence 

of frames 
I Upgraded lightening effect 
I Bubble feature to add colourful bubble* 

over an image 
I Correct colour balance of Images 
I New, more powerful. Distort feature 

called Displace 
I Modules to add and remove film grain 

to/from an image 
I Fire effects 
I Guassian Blur 
I Liquid Distort 
I Sponge 
I Sparkle to add star-shaped highlights 

to images 



September 1996 



and use ImageFX instead. With control over the 
star shape, its angle and so on, this function, 
like most of the others in ImageFX, is far more 
powerful than you first realise. As a former 
lensman (photographer to you lot) using a 
program such as ImageFX to add effects after 
the image is taken leaves you with a lot more 
options than adding the effects at the lime the 
image is taken. Easier to add than take away, I 
think the saying goes. 

With so many good things in ImageFX 2.6, 
it's a shame to spoil the party by being a little on 
the negative side, but unless you have a 68060, 
playing with all these effects is a very time- 
consuming pursuit. For those not in a hurry, 
that's fine, because you can sit back and wait to 
be amazed. If. however, you hate waiting, then 
be prepared for frustration because some of the 
effects can take many minutes to unfold. All the 
more reason for hoping that those power 
Amigas we keep being promised actually come 
to life in the not too distant future. 

After having played with ImageFX 2.6 for a 
few days now, I can't help but be impressed by 
the quality of the new features. In this day and 
age. where Amiga programs struggle to keep up 
with their counterparts on the PC, it's really 
great to see a program like this continually being 
made bigger and better, 

I have to admit to not having used 
Photogenics 2, and so it may be premature to 
say that ImageFX is the best image processing 
package on the Amiga. However, when you take 
into account its scanner support and the way 
many of the functions can be configured, I don't 
think too many will argue that this isn't the finest 
graphics program we have on the Amiga, It isn't 
cheap and so won't be as popular as some 
others, but when it comes to processing 
graphics, ImageFX is the business. ■ 



ImageFX 2.6 



Price: £1 79.99 Upgr ade v2 upwards £39.99 
Supplier: Wizard Developments 
Contact; 01322 5278CX) 



Verdict: 94% 



AmSASHOnPER 



29 



ShopperReview 



Video Titler 



Graeme Sandiford 




This powerful new titling 
package is very good, but can 
you follow tt\e manual? 




onument Designer is a 

brand-new product for us 
English-speaking Amigans. 
It's had incredible success 
in Germany and became 
their best-selling video titling package, 
despite costing the best part of £200. 

This success is probably linked to the huge 
range of powerful features available and the 
program's intuitive interface. 

It's based on a window system with one 
main window where most of your operations will 
take place. Most of the tools can either be 
accessed through the large icons or via the 
menu system. The interface looks as if it is MUl- 
based, although it isn't, and can be configured 
to your needs from within the program itself, or 
through the external SSAPref tool. 

As well as enabling you to set the 
screenmode for the program, it can also be 
used to access the program's virtual memory 
settings. Unlike most virtual memory programs, 
the SSA virtual memory doesn't require an MMU 
and will work with a standard 020 processor 
(the minimum required for operating the 
program). It also works well with the 060 
processor without crashing, as some virlual 
memory programs do. 

This feature enables you to edit title 
sequences that would otherwise be too large. 
This is a very useful thing to have in a video 
titling package, as you may have to playback 
long sequences. However, thanks to the SSAd 




...became their 
best-selling 

video titling 
package despite 
costing the best 
part of £200 




animation format, the finished animations can be 
played back from disk as well. This helped by 
the fact that most sequences may not have too 
many changes in each frame. 

Although an understanding of the principles 
behind video titling and a modicum of artistic 
skills are important for producing effective and 
attractive titling sequences, the quality of the 
finished production depends largely on the 
quality of the program's output. In order to 
achieve the best quality results and smooth 
images and transitions. Monument Designer 
works in 32-bit. that's 24-bits and a 8-bit alpha 
channel. Of course, this means that if you have a 
24-bit graphics card, your titles can be 
displayed in true-colour. 

The program will also produce the number 
of colours in these images so that they can be 
displayed on AGA and ECS Amiga's and the 
results, particularly on AGA machines, can be 
quite impressive. 

You also have the option of exporting the 
results as RGB images, ILBM, SSA or Ado 
(Adorage) animations. The support for the 
Adorage and SSA formats enables you create a 
near ideal suite of video programs by combining 
(he strengths of Adorage, ClariSSA and 
Monument Designer. 

Monument Designer's main interface works 
more like a DTP package than a traditional titler. 
The main window provides you with an overview 
of your project and enables you to position and 
otherwise modify the elements of your project 



Issue 66 



Graeme Sandiford 



Video Titler 



ShopperReview 



on an individual basis. When you are designing 
your project, the default view is a preview which 
wil( stop things from being slowed down by 
constant re-rendering. However, if you do have 
the CybergraphX system and a 24-bit card, you 
can enjoy the benefits of a 24-bit display. 

The overview provides you with a scaled- 
down representation of how your images will 
appear. The area of a full screen is described by 
a blue square. There are as many of these as 
you need, aligned to the left and below the first 
one, and if you create an object that goes 
outside the bounds of the current screen, 
another one is added automatically. This enables 
you to create titles that move both horizontally 
and vertically. 

Unlike rnost other programs of its kind. 
Monument Designer is object-orientated, so that 
just because you place one image in a particular 
position, it doesn't have to remain there or keep 
its current appearance. You can move each 
element whether it is text, an image or an effect, 
around the screen and even move them 
backward of forward as you would in a DTP 
package. Objects that have alpha channels 
applied to them will show through their 
backgrounds, wherever Ihey are, as a bitmap 
image is not created until it is rendered. 

Rendering can take quite a long time, as 
there are a lot of calculations, such as 
transparencies, that need to be made before it 
is played back. Fortunately, the play back 
window has an option to speed this process up. 
You are given control over the animation's 
resolution, colour-mode and quality. Another 
feature found in this window that is also very 
useful is the memory defragment at ion button, 
which will also help speed up the play back of 
your animation. 

There are a variety of tools and object types 
to choose from and most are available as icons. 
These include text, graphic and luminous 
objects. Each type of object, once double- 
clicked on, will bring up an appropriate 
modification requester which will provide several 
methods of adjustments. 

The most important element in most title 
sequences is the te«t. after all that's the reason 
for having them in the first place. The program is 
capable of loading scalable Compugraphic 
fonts, so you can resize your text without loss of 
quality. For added control you can even adjust 
the horizontal and vertical size of your text 
separately, as well as adjusting the orientation of 
the characters, their outline, add a drop shadow 





^~-n 


i m&. B 




k"""*.. 




llUUt « ■ lUIJ * M 


W'-n I 


"' .l"^" 


- 1 


t*M*i 


» ...^^«^.^. , ,.1 ^,«j^ , -■ 









Tools, objects and icons. 



Monument Design allows you to alter the 
apperance of your text with several options. 



Issue 66 



TTie graphic tool Is u««d to Th« luminous ThsM Icons This Icon wit Click this Theso move 

add Images. Tliey start off tool adds set the bring up » icon to get tlie selected 

as while squares, but can luminous Justification modification rid of object In 

be changed to anv shape objects, such for your text requester for unwanted front of or 

or colour. v as lensflare*. the selected objects. behind the 

X I » object ^ ^^ other objects. 



THIS tool is 
used to move 
objects 
around the 




i^MsM ' :iitLmi^ anmny 



This Is the Text 
tool, and is 

used for 
adding and 
editing text 



This Is the main editing area witere you design the 

current screen. The blue border represents a screen. 

TiM Timeline Editor provides you with an overview «f 

your project and enables ttte adding of effects. 



or even create a perspective effect which makes 
them look 3-dimensional. 

It is also possible to modify the appearance 
of the face of your text by adding a texture (an 
IFF image) or a gradient. To help you create the 
latter, the program has a built-in gradient 
designer. You can use it to create two or three- 
colour gradients and adjust their angle by 
"hand". You can also import ASCII text. 

The same options are available for graphics 
and luminous objects as well. Graphics objects 
are image based and although they start off as 
squares, they can be altered by using images as 
masks and adding alpha channels, Luminous 
objects are mainly used for light effects such as 
lensef lares and their shapes can be based on 
alpha channels. 

The last step of most titling projects is to 
animate them. Most titling sequences are pretty 
steady affairs with fiied backgrounds and 



noBwi^si^l 



.. r.J »,*-Mi»mni >- 



kUM_ 



feli^wl 



Jmim. 



^ 




Another important aspect of creating effective 
titles is having different wipe effects. 



September 1996 



moving text, all the same it is good to have an 
overview of what is going on. This, as well as 
other features, is provided by the Timeline editor. 
Although it's not very well explained in the 
manual, this a valuable tool, not only for 
providing overall control of your sequences, but 
also for adding effects. You are given access to 
a wide range of wipe effects, for either wiping in 
or out. Initially the Timeline looks confusing and 
hardly worth the effort of learning how to use it, 
however, the effort is well rewarded as this is a 
feature that has the potential to become even 
more powerful. 

The real basis of the program's strength 
though, is its implementation of textures, alpha 
channels and masks. This gives you almost 
limitless options for creating different shapes 
and surface appearances. It also makes for the 
creation of smooth compositions and a variety of 
effects and fades. 

The combination of a wide range of tools 
and effects with an interface that's easy to use 
makes creating effective title sequences easier 
and more professional. Monument Designer just 
about has it all, except for the manual, which is 
in definite need of re -structuring to make it more 
accessible. But if you've been dreaming of a 
powerful and easy-to-use titling package with 
brilliant output quality, then your dream has 
finally come true. ■ 

Monument Designer V2 

Price; £179,90 
Supplte n White Knight Te chnology 
Contact: 01920 622321 



Verdict: 92% 



Shop per Reader ads 



September 1996 



Issue 66 




Turn your excess equipment Into cash, or find a true bargain. Sell, buy, swap, exchange... no matter 
what your intentions are, these are the only pages that reach the truly devoted Amiga users. 



FOR SALE 

• Bargain! A4000/3O, 2 + SMb 

hard drive, brand new keyboard. £600. 
No offers, reluctant sate, debts to pay. 
Phone Jason on « 1 704 2 1 1 782 
{answerphone message). No ttme 
wasters please. 

• ASOO-f, 2Mb RAM, Cartoon 
Classics, original software worth £1 50, 
all boxed, mint condition, £1 SO. Call 

« 01234 701715. 

• A1200, 6Mb RAM, 120Mb HD. 
external dnve, 14- inch colour TV, 
onginal software, worth £750. lots of 
magazines and disks, all boxed and in 
mint condition. £550. It you're 
interested call = 01 234 781 71 5. 

• PhaM 4 CD- ROM from EMC. 
Duplicated gift, save approx. £10, yours 
lor £30. Call "01282 616097. 

• Amiga 1200, 540Mb hard drive, 
second external disk drive, three mice. 
two joysticks, lots of games, books, 
senous software. Very good condition. 
Wants E400 one. « 01 234 271022. 

• Imaglna 4 complete with 350-page 
manual, £75 only. Also LW/30 at 
bargain price. Call " 01405 860796. 

• Amiga 4OO0/30, 6 Mb RAM, 
85Mb HD, Microvitec monitor. Canon 
BJ200, CD32. floppies, scanner, 
sampler, accessories, software, eg. 
Final Writer, XCAD3000, etc. Too much 
to list fie re. £1,000. Call John for 
details (Coventry) w 01203 673407 

• Amiga: 1200, 170Mb hard drive, 
608030 Viper and 1 extra Mb RAM. 
£260 ono (COD £1 0). will split' Call 
B 01223 502259. 

• Amiga. 120O, 540Mb hard drive, 
three mice, two joyslicks, tots of games, 
books, serious software, very good 
condition, wants £450. Call Matthew 

= 01234 271022. 

• A500 with RAM, as new with 
games and A520 £1 75 ono. Call 
Roland on ir 01375 641905 (Essex). 

• Amiga 1200, 2Mb RAM, 4Mb 
RAM expansion, 1 20Mb internal hard 
drive, external disk drive, original 
software including FinalCalc. Final 
Writer 4, many games, a mouse. 
manuals, a pystick and receipts, boxed, 
as new, £475 ono. Call (Failsworth) 

» 0161 531 9779. 

• Top of tha range genlock 
outputting S-VHS and VHS with wipes 
and fades. Cost £500 as new and 
boxed £200 ■"01271 870549. 

• Amiga 4000/30, 1 0Mb. 340 HD, 
25MHz FPU. Microvitec 1440 



multisync monitor plus loads of 
software including Final Writer 4, 
£1.200 ono. Please write to- Dave, 128 
Easton Way, Shepperton, Middlesex 
TW17 8ES. 

• CirrV, little used, £70; GVP G-Lock 
unused software, £1 00. Please phone 
on " 01 580 81 9427. East Sussex at 
any time. 

• Amiga 1200, S40Mb hard drive, 
second external disk drive, three mice, 
two joysticks, lots of games, books, 
senous software, very good condition. 
Wants £450 ono Call Matthew on 
"01234 271022. 

• Amiga CD32, over 1 full-pnce 
games: includes Alien Breed, Tower 
Assault, GD32 magazines and cover 
CDs, one controller. Call Bruce on 

■e 0134B 673302. £120 ono. 

• Amiga 4000/040, 1 8Mb, 24 bit. 
300Mb HD, multisync monitor 
(autoscan), over £1 ,800 of pro graphic 
and anim:ation software (originals). Sell 
for £1 ,500 ono Call " 01 502 581 1 60. 

• Amiga Tower, upgrade your 
A 1200 Tower and motherboard. 
SxZorro, 4xPC-AT 5x3 5, 3x5.25 bays, 
PSU, keyboard, mouse, PCMCIA 
adaptor, hard drive and floppy cables, 
£200. Call Andy " 01993 846078. 

• SCSI card (Nexus) with 40Mb 
dnve and 2Mb RAM, £65, A20aa 
bndgeboard with eiternal 5.25-inch 
drive and manual, £20, driver disks 
supplied. Both removed working from 
A4000. "01705 479976. 

• AdPro 2^ £50, Okiagon 200B 
SCSI controller and 52Mb Quantum, 
£60. Call " 01235 848412. after 7pm. 

• ASOO, 2Mb RAM, joystick, mouse, 
keyboard cover, all manuals, software, 
instructions, origiinal software package, 
plus Space Shuttle sim, Transwnte. 
Pinball. Armageddon, Risky Woods and 
more. £180 ono. "01709 719849, 
after 6pm. 

• Art Department Pro 2^, boxed 
with hard manual and disks. All as new 
£40 + £6 postage. If you're interested 
call "01502 581160. 

• Supra RAM 500RX, external RAM 
expansion with 2Mb RAM, expandable 
to 8Mb with thru port, switchable, 
complete with original box, software 
and instructions, £50 ono. Call on 
"0113 287 641 3 after 6.30pm. 

• RAM expansion for Amiga 500 
not+ for Trapdoor. Ashcom, 2Mb, with 
gary board and clock, £50 ono. Also 
WB2.04 chip £10, Call Leeds "0113 
287 6413, after 6 30pm. 



• A1200, 2S0Mb HD. external disk 
dnve. colour monitor, lots of software, 
£400 "01634 295737 

• A1200, 50MH2 + FPU, 2Mb Fast 
RAM, 210Mb hard drive, sampler, tons 
of software. Imagine 3, Devpac 3, 
games, some RkM manuals and lots of 
mags, £600 the lot. Give Huw a call on 
" 01 239 682296. It's a bargain! 

• Prima A1200 RAM board with 
battery backed- up clock. No RAM. Can 
be populated up to 8Mb, £40 ono, 
including delivery. E-mail 
jono@enterprise.net or call me on 

« 01 757 705102. 

• Amiga 11200, Blizzard 1220/4Mb 
RAM -I- 68882 FPU, turbo memory 
board. Wants £170. Call Matthew on 
"01234 271022, 

• A2000, 350Mb SCSI HDD, 14-incb 
colour monitor, manuals, games, serious 
software, £200 ono. For details call 

" 01 17 983 7075, evenings. 

• AMOS, Easy AMOS, AMOS Pro, 
AMOS Compiler, all as new, boxed 
with manuals, £50, will split. Phone 
" 01473 686312, or write lo 20 
Glastonbury Close, Ipswich IP2 9EE. 

• Amiga 500, 5Mb upgrade and 
8Mb RAM expansion, boxed with 
manuals, modulator, joystick, mouse, 
printer, dust cover. Deluxe Paint III and 
some disks as well, £1 60. Call on 
"01703 872236. 

• Squirrel SCSI interface £45, 
Goldstar CD-ROM drive £100. 
Seagate 2.5*inch hard drive, 64Mb, 
£60; DPaint IV AGA (unused), £30. 
Call Ti 01 273 493659 (Sussex). 

• Power dual-speed CD-ROM: with 
Squirrel, many CDs including Ami net, 
games and software, including 
ImageFX, Imagine 3, Sm City. Offers. 
Call Brian " 01 539 7234 1 2, up to 
Spm only. 

• Imagine 3 disks and manual £45, 
Audiomaster IV sampling software. 
£25, AVR MIDI interface £1 5 Call 
Darren " 01689 600826, evenings 
and weekends. 

• ASOO, 2MI>, Action Replay Mk3, 
loads of software, very good condition. 
Offers. Call Chris tr 01273 682568 
(evenings). Ouick sale required. 

• MIDI lieyiMianI, Casio CT670. 61 
full size keys, 220 sounds. 1 1 
rhythms, hardly used. Complete with 
stand, mams adaptor, leads and 
manuals, £200. Call Darren " 01689 
600826. evenings and weekends. 

• Picasso li, 2Mb graphic card, 
manuals and software, £150. Blizzard 



1230-111, 50MHz accelerator card. 
£125. Call Dean "01993 846270. 

after 6pmi. 

• A1200, 170Mlb HD, CVP030, 4Mb 
F?AM, Squirrel, SCSI, Zip drive, dual- 
speed CD-ROM, 1084 monitor, HD 
external dnve. lots of software. £845 
ono. Call Paul " 01923 462008 
(Watford), evenings. 

• Amiga 1200 with 1 70Mb HO, 
complete with mouse, joystick, software 
and original box, £275 for quick sale. 

tr 01395 276661. 

• Software: Sensible World Of 
Soccer, Civilization, Odyssey, 
Darkseed, Leander and other variously 
priced from £3 to £7 Call for details on 
"0121 525 4024. 

• Golden Gate 386SX 25MHz PC 
emulator lor Amigas 2/3/4000. SMb 
RAM. Maths Co-pro, 340Mb HD, 1Mb 
S-VGA card. MS-DOS v6.22, plus 
Windows v3.1 . Bargain at £350. Phone 
Matt on " 01793 825751. 

WAKTED 

• Arcade Snooker coverdisk. I 

have tried unsuccessfully to replace my 
stolen copy. Can you help? Kris 
Faulkner, 28 St. Lukes Avenue, 
Maidstone, Kent MEM 5AL. 

• Wanted: Amiga contacts. Write 
to Darren at 24 Hambndge Road, 
Greenham, Newbury. Berkshire RG14 
5TA. too per cent reply. 

• Rolepiaying games, adventures, 
war games. Captive. Waxworks. Pool of 
Radiance, Warlords. Dungeon Master, 
Legend, Spirit of Excalibur, many 
others. Ask for a list. Andrea 
Campanini, via Fratelli Rosselli 45, 
47100, Fori I. Italy. 

• A57Q CD drive, working or not, 
A590 HD or Simkar (compat. with 
A500+). Rod, 1 4 St. John's Close, 
Cherington, Shipston Stour, 
Wanivickshire. CV36 5HR. 

• iiemory expansion for ADD-Hard 
hard dnve. Also A570 CD-ROM, Phone 
Mark any time on " 01 795 842428. 
Willing to pay good prices for good 
stuff in return. 

• ComniO<IOre AS70 CD-ROM 
drive, in good working order. Will pay 
postage. Call « 01 245 323106 if you 
can help. 

• Snootier game. My Coverdisk of 
Artiade Snooker was stolen. It's now 
unavailable. Can you help me? Please 
state what you require. Kris Faulkner, 
28 St. Lukes Avenue, Maidstone, Kent 
ME14 5AL. 



32 



Issue 66 



September 1996 



Shop per Reader ads 



• Datal gsnitlzing tablet for jse 

wilh Amiga 500+ (Tabby or Glidepoint 
not suitable). Would be prepared 1o 
swap tor Amiga software. Call on 
« 01457 862189. 

• A4000/040 in good condition with 
manuals. Reasonable price paid. Mr. R. 
A. Whitetiead, 21 South Drive, 
Shortstown. Bedford MK42 OUD. 

• V-L^ MoUon for Amiga 4000. 
pric« dependent on age and version. 
Call between 9am and 3.30pm 
weekdays or any time weekends. Call 
« 01443 776515 Ask for Jeff. Also 
wanted LightWavc videos. 

• WantMl: 2.5-incli IDE hard dnve 
cable. Needed urgenllyl Call Alan on 

• 01294 276396. 

• FllckM- FlK^f and CDTV software 
required for an At 500. If you can help 
call* 01 71 263BB82. 

• A4000 kayboanl. must be white. 
no A3000 keyboards please. Must be 
mint. Can part exchange my A3 000 
keyboard if needed. Call Dave on 
Blackpool ■B 01 253 595300 at any 
time of day. 

• WintMl: DIgtta Organl»«r, 
Datastore, TurboCalc, complete original 
versions with manuals only please. The 
best price paid. Call me any time on 

T 01206 210B57 

• QuartariMck Tooli. Please ring 
me on w 01737 779540, or e-mail 
godman@mbox.gaia.com.co.uk 

• Wantad axtratnaly urganUy! 
Hint books for Eye of the Beholder 1 
and 2. Good pnce paid, London area. 
"0181 66S 1247 evenings. The 
situation IS critical. 

• Halp A500+ owRwr, 1 Mb. needs 
info on HDs and CD-ROM drives. What 
can I attach? Contact: Paul. 1 
Oydesdale Path, Borehamwood, Herts 
WD6 2SE.. I'm on the dole and skint' 

• Wantad for Amiga AS 70, CD- 
ROM operating manual. Rease ring 
» 01202 881421. anytime. 

• Entarprfsing daalar to sell me a 
printhead lor my Nakajima AR40D 
printer. Tve been everywhere man, but 
no joy! •" 01 507 338044. 



# Can anyQn« m the 

Sheffield/Chesterfield area with a CD- 
ROM help me get mine to work. I don't 
know what to try next. David on 
Sheffield "01 14 274 6357 

# A4000 6SQ40 processor card and 
040 chip wanted. Will pay around 
£175. Phone David on w 01277 
210197, Monday to Friday. 3pm to 8pm 
only please. 

• Urgently rvqulrvd: Oatascan Pro 
software [or similar scanning software) 
for Zydec Handy Scanner {circa 1 991 ). 
Sensible price {or swap PD?). Write to 
Sean Kennedy, 41 Larwood. Worksop, 
Notts. SB1 OHH. 

PERSONAL 

• Pantrfaoft, tha programnMf*' 

user group. Advice, contacts, testing for 
all languages, at ail levels. Free 
membership. Write to: Mark Harman. 3 
Highlea Close. St. Leonards. O/S. East 
Sussex TN37 7SS. 

• Contacting cool guys and gals 
all around the globe. How about 
swapping stuff with the Greendude il 
you want to? Contact me at 1 Stone 
House. Forden, Welshpool, Powys 
SY21 8LT Okay I 

# 27 yaar>old owner seeks local 
users [preferably 1 B+) for the usual 
Amiga -related things and nights out on 



Warning 



No trade advertising will be 
accepted for this section- 
Some people are still! trying 
to sneak tfiem in and we will 
weed out any we find. Tliis 
includes PD advertising. 

We will also remove any 
reader ads that appear ot 
dubious legality. Pirated 
software is illegal and sales 
within these pages will not 
be tolerated. 

Please do not attempt 
to abuse this reader service. 



the town. Contact Mark, Eastview, 
Fernleigh Road. Mannamead, Rymouth 
PL3 5AN if interested. 

• Sarlous Amiga contacts wanted' 

Write to William Red ho use at: Tarka, 
Kirkby Malham. Skipton, W. Yorks 
SD23 4BX. Worldwide penpals 
accepted, I look forward to your letter. 
Rease wnte m English. 

• Wast 'Yiorkshlra Amiga users. 
Monthly friendly meetrng every last 
Tuesday of each month. Join fellow 
Amiga users. Tutonals given. Ample 
parking. Huddersfield area. Absolute 
beginners welcome. Call Tony on 

■B 01484 460BBB, 

• UghtWawa animators/ modellers 
wanted to work on exciting projects. 
Phone Bob n 01 444 247223. 

FANZINES/ BBSs 

Big Squaaza BBS. On-line 8pm till 
Bam weekdays, 24 hours at weekends, 
latest Aminet CD-ROM on-line, Fidonet. 
over 2,500 files on-line, running 
Xenolink Pro software, speeds 2.400 to 
28,800. Call « 01563 532B82. 
B«Cln»O0d* BBS, SySop Luigi. 
weekends 2pm-10pm. Call » 01463 
B70022 Needs new users. 

• 'bchno'1 BBS. Open 1 0pm till 
Bam every day. Red Dwar^ file and 
message areas. Large RPG/adventure 
files. Call me on « 01 793 61 0632. 
SysOp: Grmbo. 

• Visions: a new scl-n, fantasy. 
horror 'zine needs stuff. Fiction, artwork 
etc., all genres considered. Send S.A.E. 
for full details. Sean Kennedy. 41 
Larwood, Worksop, Notts. S81 OHH. 

• Tha Domain. Amiga-only PC 
fanzine. Issue one out now. Send S.A.E. 
for subscription details to: Domain, 6 
Saxon Court. Kingsway Gardens, 
Andover, Hants. SP10 4BU. Note: free. 
except for postage. 

• Visions Issue ona, out now. Sci-fi, 
fantasy, horror, fiction 'zine. Only 50p 
[■t-S.A.E.) from: Sean Kennedy, 41 
Larwood, Worksop. Notts. S81 OHH 
Contributors also needed for future 
issues. S.A.E. (or info. 



• Mtcks Cupltoard BBS, 24 hours, 
seven days a week, Amiga and PC, 
9,600bps, files no ratios, friendly 
SysOp. "01702 303290 

• Tha Big S<|uaaza BBS, 

tt 01563 532BB2, speeds 2,400 to 
23,800, latest Aminet CDs, 2 4Gb, 
running Xenolink Pro software, friendly 
SysOp, weekends only, 24 hours, loads 
of file areas, new BBS, 

• Guru madicalion, BBS I, Fido, 
Aminet, Over 1 ,000-1- files on-line. 
Speeds up to 1 4,400, Fido points 
available free of charge. Call me on 
"0181 401 2502, 24 hours. Node 2 
from May 1996. 

• Visions. A new SFrtantasy/horror 
fanzine [printed) needs fiction and 
artwork for issue one. Send S.A.E. for 
lull details to: S. Kennedy, 41 Larwood, 
Worksop, Notts S81 OHH. 

• No UmHs BBS " 01293 413668, 
v34-f-, 1 .2Gb, Xendrix Pro software, 
very friendly SysOp, free call to other 
Eurobell subscribers, complete Fidonet 
backbone, many other networks, perfect 
for points. Binarynet HQ' 

• Echoes BBS, Camberley, Fidonet, 
Sportsnet, plus many mofe. Always the 
latest Aminet CD-ROM on-line. Free 
pointing all networks, Xenolink Pro 
software, fnendly. helpful SysOp. All 
welcome, 24 hours " 01276 62099. 

• Entity IS a new diskmag that aims to 
keep Amiga alive by getting you 
creating. Issue one and two ready 
Contact: Jono, 25 Denness Place, 
Llandudno LL30 2LIX, lor more info. 

• Hew Amiga diskmag. £2 for two 
disks on AMOS. Imagine, PD and more. 
Jono, 25 Denness Place, Llandudno, 
Gwynedd, Wales LL30 2UX. 

• Mogsy's BBS. Contact Anthony 
Morris on t 01772 496590. Amiga 
onlyf Over 1 ,000 dies on-line and CDs 
to choose from! Speeds 2.400 to 
2B,BO0. 24 hours. Call today! 

• Black Magic BBS. On-line 
midnight till breakfast. 14.400, full 
graphic [IFF) adventure game with 
sound. On-line soon! It's a new BBS so 
spread the word. ■» 014B2 473458 ■ 



Sell your used hardware and software in Amiga Shopper... for freel AS66 



The editor reserves the right to refuse or amend ads. We accept no responsibility for typographical errors or losses 
arising from the use of this service. Trade ads will not be accepted, including PD advertising. 

Name: 



Address: (Not for publication) . 



Telephone 



_Post code_ 
.Date 



Tick to show required heading 
U For Sale L Wanted 



Personal 



Fanzines 



Return to: Reader Ads, Amiga Shopper, 
30 Monmouth Street, 
Bath, Avon BA1 2BW 

Unfortunately we cannot guarantee insertion in a particular issue. 
I have read and understood the conditions for tiie inclusion of my ad 

Signature 



Use one space for eacii word, Onl/ the words in tiiis section will be printed. 































































AMOASMDrv^en 33 



Shop per Answers 



Q&A 



David Taylor 



:i:J*:£*i£''i£jii*ii*'i:*i: 





Intos Problem 

I have bought AS back issue 57 
and was happy to find INTOS on 
the coverdisk. However, I have a 
problem. When I run any of the 
INTOS example programs all I get 
is the Workbench screen and nothing happens. I 
then flip back to Amos to find the program is still 
at the 'Multiwait' command. I have installed the 
■Run' command in 'Sys:c/' as well as the 
'Intos, Cusl.lib' in 'Sys:Libs/'. I have an 
A4000/30, WB3 and use AmosPro V2. Please 
help me. 

Manzoni Ermanno 
Italy 

T?j/s one has me stumped. Your problem is 
usually caused by not having 'Run' in 'C. but 
you say you have done that. The only other 
thing I know of that could cause this is having 
too many tasks running in the background - try 
disabling anything you have in your 



'WBstartup' drawer. I am Clutching at straws 
here, but that rnay just do the trick. 

You could also try Installing INTOS on a 
iloppy version of Amos. Try it with no 
enlensions installed, except INTOS of course, 
because some extensions (Turbo is one of 
them) can cause problems with INTOS. If that 
works then you know it's your Workbench or 
Amos set-up that is causing the problem and 
hopefully you can work it out from there. 

Dav# 

Graffic Details 

I am trying to convert JPEG, Gift 
and PCX images to IFFs, but only 
have an Ai 200 with 2Mb RAM. I 
just run out of memory trying with 
Graphics Grinder. Blackboard and 
others, but cannot afford more memory. Can you 
recommend a good PD program for this job? 

D lones 
Wakefield 




The experts at hand to help you, 




Whenever you try 
out something 
different with your 
Amiga, or buy a 
new piece of kit, 
you might come 
across problems that you don 't 
know tiow to solve. That's 
what these pages are here for 
- to guide you through your 
difficulties and get you using 
and enjoying your machine to 
the full. We've got a great 
group of experts to hand with 
their own in-depth knowledge 
in special Amiga areas. So put 
them to the test, and send 
your queries in. 




Paul 0\ craa is our 
Operating Systems 
programming expert. He 
lias written several books, 
including: Mastering Amiga 
Assembler, Mastering 
Amiga ARexx and 
.Vlastering Amiga C. When 
he's rot drinking red wine or wind surfing, 
Paul can be found making music and 
designing programs on his Amiga. 



Car\' Whiteley is our expert 
on video and graphics. He 
regularly produces v^'ork lor 
films and TV. Gary has also 
written several books on his 
favourite subjects and these 
include Amiga Desktop 
Video, published by Future 
Publishing (call tr 0I22S 82251 I to order a 
copy). GaiT also regularly reviews new 
products for Amiga Shopper. 




It is going to be very hard to convert images 
with only 2Mbs. As you can see from this 
month's leature, there are some very good 
image programs in the PD, but they will all fall 
foul of memory if you are trying to convert 
images of any significant size, tf you had a 
slightly higher system, you could get around it 
using virtual memory or with the new version of 
Photogenics which has virtual images. I doubt 
that there is any program that will convert 
images using disk space as a temporary 
directory, although you could try Transition 
which was on sister magazine Amiga Format's 
Coverdisk last August. 

The only alternative, and this is not 
guaranteed to work, is to strip down a version 
of Workbench to the minimum and boot it - 
make sure you have nothing started in your 
user-startup or WBStartup drawer (you could 
try one that doesn 'f go as far as Workbench on 
boot-up and work from the CLI). Then start a 
screen grabber, such as CRSnap, use a small 



John Kennedy is our 
hardware and mu.sic expeil. 
He has written Supertests 
and features alike for 
Amiga Shopper in the past 
- this month he continues 
with his CanDo tutorial on 
page 44. teaching you 

everything you need to know about this 

excellent program. 



Larrv Hickmott is our DTP 
and word processing 
expert. He produces his 
own DTP magazine, called 
Em, and has written several 
books, including The 
Wordworih Companion for 
Digita and Future 





Pul>lishing's books division. 



34 



ANSWERS 



I September 1996 



Issue 66 



David Taylor 



Q&A 



ShopperAnswers 



Answers contents 



If you're looking for a particular 
problem, this handy index will help 
you find the answers you need: 
INTOS ^ 34 



Graphic files 


34 


Iconian v.2.96 


35 


Formatting disks 


35 


CRSnap 


35 


AmifiaGuide 


35 


Viewing PC picture files 
Icon Edit 


35 
36 


DiceC 


36 


ObjEdit 


36 


Pro^amimng 


36 


CD-ROM drives 


37 


Hard drives 


38 




image viewer, lor example the small version ol 
Viev/tek, to view the image and capture the 
screen. The capture will be saved as an IFF. 

Dave 

Chunky Problems 

Having obtained through the 
Coverdisk channel a copy of 
conian v.2.96, 1 discovered that I 
could not make it run due to the 
program not being able to find the 
Chunkyimage.class. Although the software was 
installed using the supplied installer and the 
image file finding its way into the Classes 
directory on the WB partition, the program 
refused to go beyond the requester that popped 
up on the WB v/indow. After reading the 
Installer script and finding it to be logical I gave 
up, thinking there must be a bug in the software. 

Imagine my delrght when I found version 
2.9S of Iconian on this month's AS Coverdisk. 
Great, I thought. They've killed the bug. So, 
imagine my horror when after installing the new 
version up popped the same en-or - 'Cannot 
find Chunkyimage.class 2.0"! 

Determined to get to the bottom of this I ran 
it through SnoopDOS, and guess what? The 




An exclusive version of the brilliant Iconian 3 
featured on the Coverdisk of issue 64. 

software is looking in the root dir of libs: for the 
chunkyimage.class, compleximage.class and the 
pop.gadget too. As for the gauge.image, it 
appears to make absolutely no difference if you 
leave it out altogether. 

I transferred all of these files into the root of 
libs:, deleting them from all other places on the 



Issue 66 



drive (to prove a point} and the program runs 
like a dream. 

Could you let the thousands of other 
Amigans who are tearing their hair out (and 
perhaps the author) know the simple solution. 

T Williamson 
Leicester 

The way that the classes and libs are set out is 
logical, but a little confusing, tl may be that 
some other people are having the same 
problem and so thanks for sorting it out. 
However, most people should have an assign in 
their startup-sequence that points libs: to the 
classes directory too (and vice versa). So the 
program would search tibs: lor a class, not find 
it and then search the classes directory too. Ol 
course, it depends on how standard you've 
kept you startup-sequence. 

Dave 

Amiga Format 



Softwara 



Help I I cannot format floppy disks. 
If I place a disk formatted to MS- 
DOS in the drve and select 
Format from the Icon menu, I get 
no response. If I place an Amiga 
formatted disk in the drive and select Format, I 
get the message "Unable to open Tool 
SYS: System/form at". Can you recommend a 
book that deals with error messages? 

D Pooley 
Tonbridge 

This is easy and the Amiga is telling you the 
problem. You should have the Format command 
in the System drawer on the System 
(Workbench) partition ol your hard drive. 
Somehow this has been deleted. Get your copy 
ol the Workbench Happy and copy it back into 
the directory. The quickest way would be to put 
the WB disk in your internal Itoppy drive, open 
a CLI (Shell) and type: copy dfO.system/format 
sys:system/format <return>. For more details 
on how your machine works, why not try the 
new book from HiSoft, or one ol Bruce Smith 
Books' excellent guides to the Amiga? 

Dave 

Snappy Solution 

I've loaded the CRSnap program 
from the Utility Zone of AS62, but 
It will not capture screens. How 
exactly does it work? Tlie docs 
show up fine, but I don't 
understand them completely. 

H Fertig 
Sarasuta, USA 

Firstly, check you have a machine that meets 
the program requirements (this goes lor any 
program that reluses to run). CRSnap has 
several settings in the Icon Tooltypes that you 
must set before starting the program. To do this, 
click once on the program icon and then select 
Information from the Icon menu on Workbench. 
When the window pops up, click on the line 
that selects the destination directory where the 
screen captures will be saved. Change this to 
one that suits you and one that exists on your 
drive. You must press return alter altering a line 
and then click on Save to make the changes. 



Sepiennber 1996 




You can also change the hotkey if you want. 
When this is done, double click on the program 
and it will be loaded. There is no interface, so 
you won't see anything. (If you want, you can 
check it's loaded or remove it, using the 
Exchange commodity that's in your machines 
Commodities drawer.) Now when you activate 
the hotkey, a snapshot will be saved to disk in 
the destination you selected. Note that some 
screens will not allow screen captures, most 
notably games and AMOS programs. 

Dave 



Guiding Light 



fTi3n 

mi 

Softwars 



The AmigaGuide on my A1 200 
does not work correctly. It links to 
other nodes, but not to data files 
(pictures and sounds). When the 
link button is pushed to show a 
picture, it says "Tipo de datos desconocido 
(Unknown type of data)" even though they are 
standard IFF files. 

J Narita 
Del Iztacaico, Mexico 

The Amiga in Spanish (I think), how excellent. 
Although they may be standard IFFs, 
AmigaGuide still uses a datatype to had them 
and you need all the elements in your 
Workbench partition Irom your Workbench 
lloppy. Fither copy them across if you know 
which ones are missing, or copy the whole ol 
your Workbench back on. Otherwise, you could 
use SnoopDOS to see which files are missing 
and copy those. (Basically it's going to be your 
Classes directory.) 

Dave 



Missing Disk 



TOff 



m^ 



Softivan; 



I was surprised when I got your 
magazine in the mail, more by the 
look of it than the missing second 
Coverdisk. I honestly thought the 
Subscriber's disk was gone too (I 
didn't get mine} until I read otherwise in the 
editorial. Fortunately the quality of AS hasn't 
suffered, though. 

Anyway, on to the query. I have some 
picture files in SFW (Seattle Photoworks) which 
I got from a fnend with a PC. Unfortunately I 
cannot find a program which can view them. Do 
you have any ideas? 

5 Gunnarson 
Stord, Norway 

You should have received your Subscnber's 
disk. If it hasn't turned up please contact our 
Customer Services department on tr 01225 
822511, and they will be able to sort the 
problem out for you. My apologies lor this 
frustrating omission. 

You could try a program such as 
Photogenics which can toad nearly any type of 
(mage, or the Shareware Superview, which is 
also extremely good. II you don't have any luck 
with that, then why not get your friend to 
convert them on his PC into a more universal 
lormat, such as JPEG. He must have Paint 
Shop Pro (the PC Shareware paint package) 
which can even save IFFs. 

Dave 



>lMR3A >INSWERS 35 



Shop per Answers 



Q&A 



David Taylor 



Icon If You Can 






It sounds to me as If J Lammin 
(AS63/Qi4A/Multi-coloured Icons) 
Uy"|f ~; has a bugged IconEdit like mine. 
Pwj»"*A -p^g one I have came with an 
Software I A1 200/WB3.0 and I often 
suffered from black and white icons after saving 
(less often when Saving As but there 
nonetheless). I was also restricted to four 
colours even though eight were available. 

Using a friend's A2000 with WB3.1 , I was 
surprised that his IconEdit worked fine with 
eight colours. A copy of his program worked 
fine on mine too! 

P Holland 
Poole 

Ah, well, technically taking a copy of that 
program isn 't legal. However, I think the best 
sotutior} is to chuck IconEdit out because it's 
useless anyway. Why use it when you can use 
Iconian? (Which surpasses it so many times it's 
just embarrassing.) 

Dave 

Enforcer 

I am using Dice C on my A1 200 
and would like to be able to run 
the 'Enforcer' utility that comes 
with Dice, but can't because the 
A1 200 doesn't have a MfVIU. The 
Enforcer docs seem to suggest that a 68851 
can be connected to a 68020, but how do you 
do this and how much will it cost? 

Morris Wilding 
Coventry 

Enforcer, for those of you who don 't know, is a 
utility used to check for illegal memory access 
in Amiga programs. It's a great tool (and used 
by almost all Amiga software developers) but. . . 
because of the way Enforcer works it can only 
run on Amigas that have an MMU (memory 
management unit) on board. 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but as 
far as A1200 users are concerned the only 
realistic option is to add an accelerator board 
containing a 66030 (or higher) processor. 
There are quite a few alternatives including the 
Magnum 030/40. Viper l^kll-50 and the 
Blizzard 1230-IV. Prices vary according to 
source and options chosen, but you generally 
won't get much change from a couple of 




Listing 1 



NULL EQU 
LF EQU 10 

XDEF main 
XREF printi 

main move. I #$20,d0 
move.l dOv-tsp) 
pea format 
[sr printf 

addq.l #e,sp 
rts 




hundred quid. Take a look at the accelerators 
Supertest in Amiga Shopper issue 64 before 
you decide! 

Paul 

ObJEdit Errors 

I'd like to use some simple sprites 
and Bobs in my Hisoft Basic 2 
programs, but it seems as though 
the ObjEdit utility supplied with the 
package doesn't work correctly 
with OSS on my At 200. As soon as I start 
using the program a 'Run time Error 5 in module 
BLIT' appears, 

Jiro Narita 
Mexico 

^s far as I'm aware the ObjEdit program is 
actually the same one that was supplied with 
the original Amiga Basic (and presumably 
written while Workbench 1.3 was still hot 
news). I get the same error message on my 
A4000 as well but, not being privy to the code, 
have no idea where the problem ties. H/so/f teit 
me that they're going to took into it and get 
back to me when they've fixed Ihe problem 
(hopefully before the next issue). Just as soon 
as / get the necessary details I'll post them here 
in the Question/Answer section. So don 't 
worry, your question is being dealt with! 

Paul 

Dynamic Module 
Recognition 

I'm using Dice C and would like to 
write a program which uses 
external modules placed in a 
special drawer. The idea is that the 
program should be able to scan 
this drawer and use only the necessary external 
functions or variables. When a new module is 
added, the program should use it without 
needing to be recompiled. How can I do it? 

Jakub Jablonski 
Poland 

You've not provided any details of the things 
that either your program or your external 
modules would be doing, so all I can really do 
is try to offer some generaf hefp. However, first 
we need some kind of specific example (so that 
everyone else can see what's going on). Let's 
say you were writing a program whose job was 




just load an example number (decimal 33} into dO 
store number on stack 
store format string on stadt 
print the number 
adjust stack pointer 



format dcb'Wd',LF,NULL 

Listing 1: TTiis source code will print ttie numtier 32, ie 26 hex! 



36 



ANSWERS 



I September 1996 



to sort data files using various sorting methods 
and had written modules for performing bubble 
and Shell sorts. When your main program was 
run it would took at the available modules and 
provide a 'Sort' menu that had Bubble Sort and 
Shelf Sort in it. The user would select a 
method, identify the name/focation of the file to 
be sorted and specify a destination filename, 
and the program would then pass this 
information to Ihe appropriate sort module for 
processing. If at a later time you wrote a tree 
sort module, then by simply placing this module 
in your chosen drawer the main controlling 
program would recognise the existence of the 
new module and thereafter display three items 
in its Sort menu. 

The key factor is that although these 
modules will contain executable code there 
must be no re-compiling or re-linking of the 
main program. Now in many cases the easiest 
solution is to have the 'modules' written as 
separate programs, and if you do this you then 
need a way of transferring information between 
your main controlling program and the modules. 
You could, for example, use the dos library's 
ExecuteO function to perform the AmigaDOS 
Run command, passing the necessary 
parameters to your modufe as pari of the 
command fine string which is set up by the 
controiter program. 

Alternatively, the modules could be written 
as individual run-time libraries which all use a 
set of standardised functions - this woufd 
probably be the method most developers would 
use. With Ihe hypothetical sort program I used 
for the exampfe we might choose to have 
SetSourceNameO, SelDeslNameO and SortO 
functions present in each library. Although 
these calls would be hard coded in the 
program, the sort method itself would change 
depending on which library had been opened. 

This approach only works if Ihe parameters 
and return values of the functions of all 
modules can be standardised but, if you can 
get a system like this in place, your difficulties 
essentially reduce to those of tocating fifes. 
Identifying files in a selected directory is easy 
enough and with Dice C you could, lor 
instance, use the UfJIX style functions dirO, 
readdirO etc., to read entries from a directory. 
Using a logical assignment, eg. MODULES:, in 
your code and including a suitable assign 
statement in your startup script woufd help 
avoid any hard-coded dependence of the 
program on the physicaf directory being used. 

Paul 

Decimal Numbers 

I'm writing a small program in 
assembly language which needs to 
display numbers on my Amiga 
screen. How can I get whole 
number results stored in a 680x0 

register displayed in Base 10 (i.e. ordinary 

decimal) form? 

No name supplied 

From the example you sent you're fairly new to 
680x0 coding and want program output to 
appear at the Shell window which the program 
runs from. The amiga.lib linker library contains a 
printfO function that will do this job and the 



Issue 66 




David Taylor 



Q&A 



Shopper Answers 



only Ity in the ointment is that the routine 
expects parameters to be passed C style, i.e. 
on the stack. Chances are you haven't come 
across this sort of coding yet, so I'll try to 
explain briefly what has to be done. 

The amiga.lib printfO function allows you to 
display numbers and text in various formats 
and, from C, a function call for printing a single 
number in decimal form would look like this: 

printf(''<ii>ld", x): 

where '^kild' is a forrrjatting string which tells 
the printfO function that it should print the 
longword based number in just ordinary 
decimal form. 

From assembler exactly the same info has 
to be provided, so both a format string and the 
number to be printed need to be specified. We 
start by using move.l and pea instructions to 
place the number to be printed and a pointer to 
the format string on to the stack (the format 
string can be defined using a dc.b statement), 
hiaving done that a jsr instruction is used to call 
the printfO function, and after this the stack 
pointer modified so that the parameters are 
effectively removed from the stack! 

Because the real code for the printfO 
function is in the amiga.lib library we have to 
link the program with this library in order to 
produce a runabte program. This means that 
during assembly it is necessary to asfc the 
assembler to produce linkable code, and with 
Devpac this is done from the Assembler 
Settings menu option. You'll need to link a 



standard startup module to your code as well 
because this will ensure that a properly set up 
stdout output handle exists for printfO to deliver 
its output to! 

Basically the command line that you'll type 
to link your code should look something like 
this one: 

blink astartup.obj myprog.o to myprog 
library amiga.lib 

Needless to say suitable file names and paths 
need to be added which are appropriate for 
your system fso that the linker finds the files 
that you specify) but, providing you don't get 
any error messages, you'll then be able to run 
the resulting program by typing its name at the 
Shell. Listing 1 shows how the function is 
used, and although short you can actually 
assemble, link, and run this code. 

Paul 



ATAPI Days 

I am planning to add a CD-ROM 
drive to my Amiga 1 200, At the 
moment I think that I am going to 
go for an ATAPI device over and 
above a SCSI one. I am planning 
to mount the CD drive in a PC mini tower or 
desktop case. 

1 . Would the ATAPI software or my Amiga's 
IDE port be able to handle six or eight-speed 
drives, or would I be better off with a quad- 
speed model? 




2. Which drive would you recommend? 

3. I have heard that the lead to the case 
should be short, but I need a lead of at least 
35cm. preferably 60cm and maybe a maximum 
of 90cm. Are these leads suitable? 

4. If I cannot use leads this long would the 
CD-ROM drive be okay sitting next to my Amiga 
without a case? 

David Simmons 
Herts 

/. Even an eight-speed CD-ROM drive 
transfers data at (1 50 ' 8) = 1300 which is 
about 1.2Mb a second. With extra memory, the 
Amiga 's IDE port can happily work at this 
speed, so there shouldn 't be a problem. 
However, do you think you really need an eight- 
speed CD-ROM drive? I get along perfectly 
happily with a double-speed mechanism, and 
I'm honestly not convinced that anything else is 
worth the money. 

2. There is a full list of drives in the July issue 
of Amiga Format (issue 86), but the Sony 
CDU-55E and Mitsumi FX400-B1 are both 
bargains at less than £50. 

3. Yes, it's true - IDE leads should be as short 
as possible. Unlike SCSI, IDE was not 
intended to be used as a way of connecting 
external drives. Stick to as short a lead as 
possible, although 35cm should be all right. It 
depends on the quality of the cables and the 
drives themselves. I wouldn't be happy with a 
lead which was any longer and you probably 
can't buy one anyway. 

4. Most CD-ROM drives come with enclosed 



Fill in and get answers to your questions 



AS66 



If you send in a question for the Amiga Answers experts, please fill 
in and Include the form below (or a photocopy if you don't want to 
cut up your magazine). If you have several questions in different 
fields that should be addressed to more than one of our experts, 
please send in your queries on separate forms. 

Send your form and question to: Amiga Answers, Amiga 
Shopper, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, Avon BA1 2BW. 

Name: 



Agnus chip (if known) 

Extra drive #1 (3.5in/5.25in) as DF : Manufacturer . 
Extra drive #2 (3.5in/5.25in) as DF : Manufacturer . 
Hard disk: Mb as DH 



Manufacturer 



Extra RAM fitted - type, size in Mb and manufacturer _ 



Address: 



Please indicate details of any other hardware which could help us 
to answer your question: 



Your machine: 

D A500 A500 Plus 
D A1200 _l A1500 
C A4000 
Approximate age of mactiine: 



_Post code . 

A600 
Lj A2000 



n A1000 
n A3000 



Klckstart version (displayed at the "insert Workbench" prompt) 
LJi.2 lJi.3 LJ2.X D3.X 

Workbench revision (written on the Workbench disk) 
Cj 1.2 . ; 1.3 i I t.3.2 ^1 2.04/2.05 

n 2.1 n 3.0 

PCB revision (if known). Do not take your machine apatt just to 
look for this! 



Now, use this space to describe your problenn, Including as much 
relevant information as possible. Please continue on a separate 
sheet If necessary. 



Total memory fitted (see AVAIL In Shell for Worktwnch 1.3) 
Chip memory available (see AVAIL in Shell) 



Issue 66 I 



September 1996 I 



AlMOA ANSWERS 37 



ShopperAnwers^ 



Q&A 



David Taylor 



cases (so thai you don't blind yourself on the 
laser Or some other important European safety 
directive), so tt^ey'tl sit quite fiappity next to 
your Amiga. 

Drive bother 

I have a Connor internal hard drive 
and a Seagate 1 20Mb drive. 
which I want to mount externally 
because I have to run a program 
to read the Seagate drive before 
any hard drive icons appear on the Workbench, 
Can you tell me what hardware I will need, and 




how to set the Seagate to slave and the Connor 
to master? 

Dave Stone 
Somerset 

Wfiat you are saying doesn't quite make sense: 
wtiy would you need to run a program before 
Worlibench icons appear? And tiow does this 
force you to use an external drive? Any drive 
can be accessed before Workbencfi loads 
simply by using the user-startup sequence - 
only after this script has been executed does 
the Workbencfi get loaded. 



As for connecting both drives, unfortunately you 
neglected to mention the size of the drives. If 
one or both are 2.5" drives, then you are 
unlikely to get them working at once. If both are 
3.5" drives then yes, it is possible. However, it's 
not recommended because there is a chance of 
overloading the internal IDE interface, and 
probably the power supply as well. You will 
need to know the exact model of the drii/es in 
order to determine the jumper settings: if you 
are lucky you'll find the details in the little 
booklets which new drives come supplied with. 
If not try the SeaGate BBS " 0162 847 801 1. 




How to send 

and receive 

binary fiies via 

e-mail 

Nick Veitch looks at how to 
use MIME software to transmit 
and receive binary files such as 
images or LHa archives using 
an ordinary e-mail system. 

E-mail is all very well and good. Hurrah! We can 
all send messages to each other. Well, yes. But 
unfortunately, that's all it's good at. 

The biggest problem with doing this is that 
the whole Internet e-mail system was only ever 
designed to handle 7-bit data. Although this is 
perfectly adequate for ASCII text files, almost all 
other file formats such as graphics, executable 
programs and just about every other file you are 
ever going to want to use contain 8-bit data. 

Bit of a bummer, then. Fortunately, there are 
ways around this. If e-mail is jolly good at 
sending and receiving ASCII teit, then all you 
have to do is translate your data into text files. 
Problem solved. 

There are some PD programs on the Amiga, 
and indeed just about every other computer 
system in the universe, which do just that. There 
are a number of implementations of this system, 
and you should quite easily be able to find one 
on an Amiga-specific BBS, or from any of the 
Aminet mirrors on the Internet itself. 

UUENCODE/UUDECODE has its roots in 
the Unix operating system, and the syntax used 
by most of the implementations reflects this. 
Suppose you have a graphics file that you want 



38 JkHmOA ANSWERS 



to UUENCODE called "picture.gif, then the 
general format of the command to encode this 
would be: 

UUENCODE > PtCTURE.UUE PICTURE.GIF 
PICTURE.GIF 

The first part of this tells UUENCODE to direct 
its output to the file "PICTURE.UUE". This 
".UUE" extension is only a pseudo-standard and 
you can ignore it if you want to. The parameter 
"PICTURE.GIF" is included twice - first to 
actually specify the name of the file to be 
encoded and secondly to specify what the file 
will be called once it is decoded again. You can 
specify a different unencoded name if you want. 

Now, because the resultant file is simply a 
huge block of ASCII text characters, you can 
simply include it in the body of an e-mail 
message. You will see that the file includes a 
header showing how long the text is, so the 
UU Decoding software knows what to do with it. 

At the other end the recipient simply types 
UUDECODE filename 

This will take the 7-bit information encoded as 
text in the e-mail message and reconstruct the 
original file in the correct format. 

Although UUENCODE/UUDECODE is a 
fairly straightforward and easy to use system, it 
isn't what you might call user friendly. A much 
more flexible system, which is also more intuitive 
to use, is called MIME or Multi-purpose Internet 
l^dail Extensions. 

Mlt^E is an open-systems standard (it 
doesn't depend on a specific platform or 
computer) for the exchange of text and non-text 
e-mail. A message encoded using MIME 
consists of a series of data objects known as 
'partial' Each of these 'partiais' contains a data 
header which identifies the type of data 
encoded. The actual data itself, known as the 
'body', can either be encoded directly after the 
header, or 'attached' to the message. In this 
case it's referred to as an 'external part'. 

On the Amiga, the only really useful 
implementation of MIME is the mail program 
Metatool. This functions in a similar way to most 
implementations of MIME on other platforms. 

Incoming MilME documents are handled 
according to the instructions found in the 
configuration file 'mailcap'. This is simply a table 
of filetypes and their associated applications. 
For example, the line in Mailcap which handles 
IFF data would probably look like this: 
image/iff; MultiView %s; label= "An IFF Image" 

This line instructs MetaTool to invoke the 
workbench Multiview program whenever an IFF 



Septennber 1996 






'!«a9l«iS?«"""" ' ' '!«i'-'=-' !' ■^■"Si -Till r^'tjui; - 

fei'f!iitt'i;itiir"#''»'"'''-i'^-''*^'fW'K'««'':«'''''*'-' 

fe|3jiEi,'?t;i:ii;:fB!ji'ri:ii?;^:?i!s'''*'''-'"'«'""'""' 
Wt!*'rai!!'l%s!;lni'HB-i"; 



^•'liKS'i'feS!!,!!!! H B- l",'«ial' itl,!1SLSI'>... . 



An exarnplfi of the Metatool mailcap file. You could 
even ir^voke ARexx scripts to deal with some fite 
typ«s if you really war^ted to. 

image is found. The standard types included 
with the software cover the more usual data 
types such as GIF and JPEG for images, and 
IFFs and SVXs for audio files. It is also possible 
to define your own data types and have them 
invoke whatever programs you like. 

The file which handles the types of outgoing 
MIME partiais that you can send is called 
meta.types, and again this is a look-up table. 
This time it works in reverse, and when you 
attempt to add a certain file to a message in 
MetaTool, this file is used to identify the type of 
data contained in it. Thus the line: 
image/jpeg jfif jpg jpeg j 

tells MetaTool that files ending in any of the 
extensions jfif, jpg, jpeg or j are to be encoded 
as JPEG partiais. Adding a new datatype really 
IS as simple as editing this file and then adding a 
new line. 

Remember, however, that the person to 
whom you are sending the message needs to 
have equivalents of any new data types that you 
add in their mailcap file, otherwise their MIME 
system simply won't understand how to interpret 
the message. 

Actually using MetaTool to send a MIME 
message couldn't be simpler, because it 
operates on a drag and drop principle. You still 
have to use the keyboard to enter mundane data 
such as who the message is for, but then you 
simply drag the partiais on to the MetaTool 
window. The meta.types file is used to identify 
the types of data being added, but you can 
always override the automatically identified data 
type. Alternatively, you can use a standard file 
requestor to select which files you wish to 
include in your MIME encoded message. What 
could be simpler? ■ 



Issue 66 



ShopperPublic Domain 




From some really useful utilities, through to some slightly suspect clipart, Steve Liddle searches the 
world of Public Domain programs to bring you the best arid worst of what's available. 



Twith five star buys on offer, 
this issue's Public Domain 
section's got something for 
everyone. Whether you want 
artwork or animation, image 
editing or music software, read on... 

DreamTerm 

This is one of those programs that was created 
by the author to satisfy his own needs, as 
opposed to a direct attempt at flogging some 
software. This sort of thing quite often means 
unfriendly software, but happily, not in this case. 
DreamTerm is a freeware terminat program that 
allows anyone with an Amiga, modem and 
telephone to connect to a bulletin board. The 
I terminal program acts as an interface, so you 
^^^\ can send and receive data with the computer at 
r^ \ ^»the other end of the phone. There are quite a 
few similar terminal programs about, including 
JRComm and Term, both which are very good. 
So why choose DreamTerm over the others? 
Well, in ils'tavour it has ease of use, it's 
extremely configurable, it uses MUl, it's fast, it's 
free o( charge and is actively supported by the 
author. On the bad side DreamTerm doesn't 
support scripts, you will need Kickstart 3.0 and 



\ 




Check oi4t those bulletin boards with Dream 
Term, a new freeware terminal. 

MUl V3.3 or better arij there are quite a few 

bugs crawling about. By' the author's own 
admission, the program needs a bit of a 
polishing up in some departments, but-it% Still 
definitely worth a look. 



Venlict: 86% 



Peanuts Clipart 

This, as if you couldn't guess, is a disk full of / 
clipart. More precisely, it's a disk full of Peanuti i 
related clipart. When we say Peanuts, we're not 
talking the pre-shelled, ready salted kind, we're 



talking the comic strip type. The disk contains 
around 40 IFF pictures of Charlie, Snoopy, 
Linus and the rest of the gang. The quality af the 
scans is very average and unless you use a very 
high resolution screen on your TV or monitor, 
the pictures come out at an enormous size. 

Professional DTP's won't need this kind of 
clipart, so that leaves your average punter with 
their TV or cheap monitor and a lot of hassle, 
converting the images to a sensible size. The 
disk itself is badly set up too. Every picture has 
an icon, which takes up a lot of disk space, each 
defaulting to 'DPaintlV in the root directory, 
something that is unlikely to be in any system. If 
you are going to put icons on a clipart disk, why 
not link them to a simple picture viewer like 
PPShow? That way people can quickly look at 
the images instead of having to load up Dpaint 
and wrestle with the file requester every time. 
Also, in the Readme file on the disk, the author 
says the pictures are not copyright, I must 
confess to being a bit confused on that point. 
Overall then, you're only likely to get a buzz out 
of this disk if you're a big fan of Charlie & Co. 



Venlict: 55% 



1 Who, what, where, when, 


why, how... 












Product 


No of disk! 


IVp* of product 


Pries 


Suppllar 


Coniaa 


Vardlct 


Paaa 


DreamTenn 




Comms Terminal 


0.75 


OnLine PD 


01704-834335 


8S<K 


43 


Peanuts 




Clipart 


0.75 


OnLine PD 


01704.834335 


55% 


43 


JamJam 




Demo 


0.7B 


OnLine PD 


01704.334335 


78'«> 


44 


Devious Tools #40 




Compilation 


0.75 


OnLine PD 


01704.334335 


S5<(^ 


44 


Spectrum Guide 




Help 


1,50 


KEW=II PD 


01B1-eS71617 


93% 


44 


Transfiguration 




Image processor 


1.45 


Angel PD 


01733.262621 


75% 


44 


Illusions Issue 3 




SI ides how 


3.50 


SeaSoft Computing 


01303-850378 


70% 


44 


Vark #1 3 




Compilation 


0.95 


Roberta Smith DTP 


0181.4551626 


91% 


44 


Airtiorn 




Animation 


0.95 


Roberta Smith DTP 


0181.4551626 


76% 


44 


Helping Hands 




Compilation 


0.9 S 


Rotierta Smith DTP 


0181-4551626 


85% 


45 


For Mice & Mem 




Compilation 


0.95 


Roberta Smith DTP 


0181.4551626 


68% 


45 


Arrow Superutlls 




Compilation 


0,99 


Arrow PD PO Box 7,Dover.Kent.CT15.4AP 


88% 


45 


Grafix 




Art Tutor 


6.99 


F1 Lice nee ware 


01392-493580 


90% 


46 


Lotto Base 




Lottery predictor 


3.99 


F1 Licenceware 


01392-493580 


70% 


46 


Guitar Fret Mslr 




Guitar Tutor 


3.99 


F1 Lice nee wars 


01392-493580 


88% 


46 


Grac User Disk #1 




Grac help 


3.99 


Fl Licenceware 


01392-493580 


85% 


46 


Wordplay 


99lt 


Anagram creator 


n/a 


Aminet/leKt/misc/powerplay.Iha 


93% 


45 


Viewtable 


35k 


ASCII util 


n/a 


Aminet/text/show/viewtable,lha 


89% 


45 


RSIBreak 


12k 


Commodity 


n/a 


Am i n et/ uti 1 / m i sc/ rsib rea k.J h a 


87% 


45 


Multitielp 


12k 


Commodity 


n/a 


Aminet/util/wb/multih 


:lp11.lha 


92% 


45 



Issue 66 I 



September 1996 i 



tPD 39 



ShopperPublic Domain 



PD Select 



Sieve Liddle 



\^\ 



JamJam Demo 

Here we have an AGA demo which requires a 
full four Mb of memory. The demo is archived, 
but an easy to use installer is supplied, with tips 
on running this On Line PD demo - very 
commendable. JamJam though. I am sorry to 
say, offers absolutely nothing new or 
breathtaking in the demo stakes, though it is, in 
its own right a nice demo. You get the usual 
swirling colours, picture cube, scrolling 
texturised pictures, fractal landscapes and the 
obligatory vector object, and that is about it. The 
demo only lasts a minute or two but is worth at 
least one look. Having said, all that I only wish I 
had a smidgen of the coding talent these guys 
possess. Ho-hum. 



Verdict: 78% 



Spectrum Guide VI .3 

Now here is something different and 
possibly useful. This disk contains a 
rather large AmigaGuide file 
containing the brief instructions to 
over 1 50 Spectrum games. The 
author is a big fan of the Spectrum emulator and 
collects all the 'snapshots' he can get hold of to 
run on it. The only problem with this hobby is 
that unless you have the onginal manual to some 
games, it can be quite impossible to play them 
properly - hence the Spectrum Guide. Alex 
Hopson, the author, has done a great job 
compiling this guide, and he even offers free 
snapshots to anyone supplying disks and 
postage. So, there are still some non-money 
grabbing-types out there after all! Also on the 
disk IS a humungous list of Pokes (cheats) for 
over 600 Speccy games, making it excellent 
value. Apart from the dodgy copynght problems, 
it's a thumbs up for the Spectrum Guide and a 
hearty slap on the back for Alex. This disk is 
essential to all Speccy emulator freaks. 




Verdict: 92o/o 



Star buy 



Devious Tools #40 

This IS a compilation disk of utilities from 
Australia. The front end is very nice and easy to 
use. It allows you to see descnptions of each 
program and do a file list of each archive on the 
disk, as well as extracting the archives to any 
destination, so it's great for people not too 
conversant with LZX, There are nine utilities on 
offer here and they have alt done the rounds 





C4tt«4 Mk: »lco(itii|fj 














. 










:iir.iB%1l 






Ti 






:it=ji',ii 




5 


hi 






f -JMCUi'.JB 


* 


H 


■nMIIBBIIB 


t 






1 




1 tlt.l-J 







Devious Tools is a collection of nine archived 
utilities from Down Under. 



40 



tRD 



Battling for supremacy of the 
skies, aircraft fight it out in Erie 
Schwartz's Alrhorn. 






recently. You can see the file names in the 
picture - it's nice to get a friendly, good looking 
front end on this type of disk for once. 



Verdict: 85% 



IVansfiguration 

This image processor is an attempt by the 
author to create a cheap progra/n that doesn't 
require much memory - unlike the weightier 
ImageFX. The program itself is very easy to use 
and the menu is clear and precise - you won't 
need to read the docs to use Transfiguration, 
which is a good start to any program. Tfiere are 
quite a few options available to operate on your 
pictures, including Pixeli?e. Oils. Negative. 
Sphere Map. Fold, Mirror. Bnghten. Explode and 
Flip. Now the bad news. Transfiguration is 
written using Amos Pro which means no support 
for AGA pictures - pretty darn essential for an 
image processor. (What's wrong with the AGA 
extension?) The software's a fair bit slower than 
your average IP and it only supports loading and 
saving in Amiga IFF format which is another 
massive omission. Ttiis explains why the 
program can be run in low memory - its lack of 
features. The program may fill a gap in a niche 
market, where people with low-end Amiga's who 
only use IFF of less than 256-colour pictures 
mjght find it useful, particularly since it's the full 
version and totally free. Overall, a good effort, 
but written in the wrong language. 



Verdict: 75% 



Illusions Issue #3 

This slideshow comprises of 1 2 pictures on two 

disks. The subjects covered are mainly Sci-Fi 

(i.e. Star Trek} and fantasy, with some 

conventional drawings too. I counted four 

superb pictures and feel the rest are quite 

average. The disks use a track loader, so unless 

you're a hacker, you can't get at the picture fil^s 

and load them into your paint package or image 

processor To top that, the art is copyrighte<iso 

you can't do anything with these pictt*re8_9part ^'^"-^.^■-disk 



September 1 996 



from look at them. I can't see the point of these 
disks; you would presume they were an advert 
for the artists' talent, but only one artist gives a 
contact number! If you collect slideahows, 
maybe this i« okay, otherwise save your money. 



Verdict: 70% 



^rk#13 

B-f^HB There are many utility compilations 
HftaMMl around, but most of them lack the 
^^^J three essential ingredients. The best 
■^jB ones, however, contain the latest 
^^^^ utilities, as welt as surprise utilities 

you've never come across before 
and they fill the disk up. LSD did it with their 
LSD Tools compilations and now Vark looks set 
for similar stardom. Vark's 13th disk contains 20 
utils and most of them are good, or at the very 
least, interesting. The highlights of the disk are 
Zappo WB which allows you to boot your 
Zappo CD-drive direct from the Workbench, 
PointerX, whch makes the hands on the mouse 
busy clock spin - totally pointless, but nice to 
see and Zip Tool, which enables you to write 
protect your Zip drive. WRip allows you to steal 
files off all sorts of disks - naughty but nice - 
and MUI_ASF undelete provides you with a GUI 
version of the Amifilesafe undelete function. 
Other utilities include a cheat for Tower Assault, 
a converter that turns AmigaGuide documents 
into text, a lottery number generator, a new 
version of the Workbench Version command, 
EasyAmiTcp, and bootblock installer. There's 
something of interest to everyone on this distc 



\ 



i 



Verdict: 91% 



Star buy 



Alrfiom 

This is a short animation from the apparently 
undisputed king of anims, Eric Schwartz. Lasting 
one minute 40 seconds, the animation consists 
of three jet planes nudging each other out the 
way for air supremacy. Of course it's a bit 
humourous, but after one or two viewings this 
will be relegated to the back of the drawer. 



Issue 86 



Steve Liddle 



PD Select 



ShopperPublic Domain 



That said, the sound effects and graphics are 
pleasing enough and Eric is, of course, bound 
by the constraints of what he can fit on a floppy 
disk. This one's for Eric fans and animation 
collectors only. 



Veidict: 76% 



Helping Hands 

This disk is a compilation of technical files and 
hardware modification documents. Some are 
ancient, but most are either useful or interesting. 
There is info on how to install hard drives, a 
hardware hack to solve the new A1 200 disk 
drive problem (but which voids your warranty) 
and a hardware virus checker. There are 
techriical docs on how floppy disks work,.-- -^ \ 
alongside a glossary of Amiga terms and lots of 
other stuff, including instructions for building a 
sound sampler or MIDI interface and converting 
a PC mouse for use on your Amiga. As I said, 
it's all quite old, but it makes a worthy collection. 



Venlict: 85<)/o 



For Mice And IMem 

Mice and Mem is a very imaginative and 
amusing title for a compilation disk of mouse 
and memofy utilities. There are 1 6 programs on 
offer here, ranging from memory monitors lo 
mouse accelerators. A few of the more 
interesting programs on the disk include, 
PortSwitch, which enables you to use mouse 
emulation with your A1 200 keyboard - handy if 
your mouse dies. MidMoose enables you to use 
the middle mouse button if you own a three 
button mouse, Showman lets you 'see' your 
memory and Memeater. written for developers, 
enables you to test low memory situations. 



Verdict: 88% 



Arrow Super Utiis VI 

This is yet another compilation disk of utilities 
and it's an in-house effort from a fairly new PD 
library called Arrow PD. There are eight 
programs on here, including CDXSizer, which 
enables you to re-size windows by clicking on 
their borders. De-Installer, which helps to 
uninstall programs you no longer want on your 
hard drive and Disk Squeeze, which is useful for 
floppy archival purposes. 

FastView enables you to view many different 
types of picture file (fastf), MUlJoin, enables you 
to cut up files and rejoin them at a later date 
and Ramloon, replaces your boring default Disk 
icon with a trendy new image. 

UCDBackup, is a rather clever hard drive 
backup system and last, but by no means least, 
there's XToolBox, a hard drive menu system with 
some lovely features. 

All the programs come with their original 
documentation and installers, which makes a 
very nice change and on top of that, the disk is 
99% full. In conclusion then, a very well put 
together compilation. 



Verdict: 92% 



Issue 66 



AminetClioice 



Wordplay v. 7.20 

v-r^H^ This excellent freeware program was 
MImbJ ported to the Amiga by a nice chap 
^~L^5 called Jonathan Fuerth. It originates 
U ^ M from the PC and was written in strict 

^^^^ Ansi C, which makes porting 

programs extremely easy 
(apparently). Wordplay is an Anagram finder. It 
finds words derived from other words, using the 
same letters in a different order, but while 
constructing valid new words. For example 'tan' 
is an anagram of 'ant'. The program is Cli only, 
but that doesn't make it difficult to use, just 
open a shell on your Workbench and 'CD' to the 
path where you have Wordplay stored, 'CD 
Ram:' for example. Then all you do is type 
'Wordplay', followed by a space and the word or 
words you want to search. For example, to 
search 'Amiga Shopper' you would type: 
'Wordplay amigashopper' notice there is no 
space between the search words. Wordplay will 
then print out loads of anagrams to your screen, 
a printer or to a text file. There are many options 
available via Cli switches, so you can tailor the 
program to do all sorts of useful things like 
setting the minimum and maximum length of 
each anagram, deciding whether to use vowels 
or not or specify a word which should appear in 
all anagrams. You can even direct Wordplay to 
use another dictionary file other than the one 
supplied (which is reasonably large] This is a 
neat program and should give hours of fun to 
those who enjoy turning famous peoples names 
into rude and amusing anagrams. It could also 
prove useful for solving or creating crossword 
clues, as for competitions and playing pujzle 
games. Very highly recommended. By the way, 
Wordp&y returned 1 1 ,31 6 possible anagrams 
from 'amigashopper' in default mode, and came 
up some quite unprintable combinations! 



Verdict: 93% 



star buy 



ViewtableVI.0 

This utility can be quite handy for programmers 
who do not have an ASCII code chart to hand. 
Simply type in a decimal/hex/binary or ASCII 
value and everything you will need to know 
about that character or key is given. No great 
shakes really, but you can also find out the 
codes to 'invisible' keys such as the function 
keys, help, delete, escape, tab and the cursor 
keys. I can remember many times scrambling 
around for an ASCII chart in my wild youth, but 
there's no need to fear that now. The program is 
German, but you won't notice the language 
barrier, since the simple GUI makes Viewtable 
very easy to use. 
VERDICT: 89% 

RSI Break util/misc/rsibreak.Iha 1 2k 
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is no joke when it 
happens to you. It's very easy to forget how long 
you have been typing in text, or worse, stanng 
unblinking at the screen reading text - just like 
staring at a light bulb and certainly no better for 
your eyes. Then there is the risk of injuries to 
yours wrists, fingers and let's not forget your 



September 1S96 




Take a look at some interesting artwork on 
Illusions Issue 93. 

spine, when you are hunched over the keyboard 
for hours. RSI Break is a small commodity that 
just consists of a simple timer which reminds 
you to take a break at regular intervate by 
flashing the screen. A second level warning 
blanks your screen and tells you to get up and 
walk around until the break is over RSIBreak is 
easy to install, just copy it into your WBStartup 
drawer and it will be run every time you boot 
Workbench. Using RSIBreak's icon Tooltypes 
you can adjust the time between each warning 
and the length of warning. As the author says, 
'the PC and Mac have loads of RSI warners. so 
why not the Amiga?' Why not indeed? 



Verdict: 87% 



MutUiielpVI.I 




MultiHelp is a useful and powerful 
commodity It enables you to assign 
Hotkeys to the Amigaguide 
ortdoctassociated with any 
Workbench program. This means, in 
effect, that you can force any 




The PD directory 



More details of names 
and addresses of PD 
companies, and tiow to 
get hold of PD software 
can be found in the PD 
Directory on the 
Coverdisk. It used to be 
printed within ttie 
magazine, but had to 
be in very small text because of the amount 
of information it contained. To solve this, we 
have updated and recompiled ttie list and 
put it on our Coverdisk as a text file in the 
informatioitZone. 

Ttie InformationZone contains both the 
PD Directory and the list of User Groups 
(which also used to be in the issue). They 
are both in two formats, AmigaGuide and 
ASCII. The AmigaGuide enables you to point 
and click your way to the information, 
making it much easier to find the details you 
require. Read the ReadMe file for more 
information. See page 10 for details. 



tPD 41 



r 



ShopperPublic Domain 



^ 



J 



J ^ 



Workbench program to supply on-line-help. 
Multihelp is easy to use, just double click on the 
Multihelp icon and a requester will enable you to 
select an AmigaGuide or ASCII doc file and you 
then type in the key that you will use as the 
hotkey. Nejtt time you run the associated 
program, a press of the hotkey will result in the 
AmigaGuide or doc file loading and displaying. 
Multihelp requires Workbench 2 or higher. A 
handy little program that you should find welt 
worth checking out. 



Verdict: 91% 



star buy 



Licenceware Choice 



.S-i 



Gmflx 

Wy^^n Apart from the dubious spelling, this 
HKiiy is a rather good attempt to teach 
Pl^3 ""^"^ no-talents such as myself to 
yAM draw. Apparently Grafix was a 
^^^^ Gommercial release on the Atari ST 
(is that a good or bad thing?) and it did quite 
well. Now F1 Licenceware have snapped up the 
rights to the Amiga version and supplied a 40 
page A5 manual to go with the two disks, tience 
the price of £6.99. The tutor itself is a very 
basic menu program, where you click on 
individual lessons such as how to draw human 
heads, facial features, animals, perspective, 
logo's, landscapes and - more impressively - 
animations which you can see in action. A nice 
touch is enables you to save out the tutorial 
graphics to load into your art package and mess 
about with later. Most of the graphics are very 
professional and I did team quite a few tricks 
from this guide - well I can draw a straight line 
now I This is one for all the family. 



Verdict: 90% 



star buy 



PERSPECTIVE 


1 


^ wit 




/ / , 


J 


m 




rOlNl / /■■I 


m 


^K 




/*^f 




r\ 




.'..^i.^. ^ W-i \ 1 


- 


... 1 1 


. — - 1- 



SKULL flHIt JAM COHSTRUCTIDH 



ALUAYS BEGIN BY ORAUIHS AN OUTLINE, 
START WITH THE lASlC SKULL AND JAH THEM 
AOD THE EARS, HECK AHD FOREHEAD SLOPE. 
HOU THE HOSE, HOUTH, AMP HAIR. ADJUST THE 
CHEEKS TO SUIT THE EXPRESSION THEN 
FINISH HITH THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. 



P 






&L 



Two left thumbs w/ien ii comes to drawing? 
Maybe you need help from Grafix. 



PD Select 



Steve Lid die 



\«l\ 



1 Efflait^r Pro E11% Bofc SUiUv 


HelE-attd ta F1 Licficeu^rt: \^f2/'^i 1 












Hamanic Elincr Scit«s 


: R Hlnar Dptn-strln^ PpiJtUn 








.-* ,-. 










y^ 


"-^^ 










- 




_^, 


S.^ 










* 


~'lm^' 


*-s 


» 


* 


« 






aA^ 














» 




r -J- 




*xj 














' I ' \i 


- 




.-■.■ 





WIretlier you're just starling or you're polishing up your scales, try out Guitar Fret Master Pro. 



LottoBase 

'Oh not' Everybody ones. 'Not another lottery 
predictor.' Yes, I am afraid it is. LottoBase is 
Licenceware so it should be good, but is it? 
LottoBase contains the lottery numbers of the 
first 66 weeks of the Lottery, so you'll need to 
input 20+ weeks worth to catch up, hmm. On 
loading, the program greets you with a simplistic 
menu - select 'Hot numbers' and the software 
tells you the six most common numbers to 
appear so far, 'Cold Numbers' tells yoti the least 
common numbers, 'MfK' combines the two and 
there's also the usual 'Random' feature. As a 
plus, on this screen you can view all the lottery 
data in a rather neat graph format. So far so 
good. On the next menu you can edit the data. 
This is where you can input new draw numbers 
each week and edit out any mistakes you've 
made. There is also a built in Help file and that's 
your lot. Lottobase works and is very simple to 
use. It's nothing special and I think I've seen 
better as shareware. At nearly £4 for the disk, 
you will have to think about whether this 
program is of any use to you. 



Verdict: 70% 



Guitar Fret IMaster Pro 

1 dabbled with guitars years ago (I think most 
people have a go at it sometime or another), but 
never got very far Needless to say, I don't have 
a guitar at hand to test this program properly, so 
will just tell you what it has to offer, GFMP is a 
Guitar Scales Tutor. It displays where you 
should place your fingers for any given chord 
and also ptays the sound. It contains 1 41 
scales/runs and is aimed at guitar beginners. 
There is plenty of documentation and help, the 
front-end is nicely set up and the menu system 
is very easy to use. Also, as a bonus, you get an 
AmigaGuide file called 'The Guitar' which 
includes both a brief history of the guitar and 
how to tune a guitar It makes quite interesting 
reading. There are some nice ertra touches in 
this program such as loads of exercises where 
you can try to play along with the program while 
it displays the finger positions you should be 
using, accompanied with sound. It also provides 
you with the ability to save the screen as an IFF 
file and to print the screen. The author even 



goes as far as tryirrg to teach you the basics of 
tabulature in the documentation too. 

There's also a collection of 1 20 arpeggio's 
in both ASCII and Music2Tab format l^usic2Tab 
is another Guitar util from F1 and they also offer 
Guitar Chord Directory (by the same author as 
GFMP). This program looks like it could be very 
useful to guitar beginners and there are not 
many programs of this type about. 



Verdict: 88% 



Grac User Disk 

According to F1 , The Graphical Adventure 
Creator has been a storming success, no doubt, 
as it's the only program of its kind (apparently). 
It's a very powerful program which enables non- 
programmers to create Monkey Island-style 
adventure games with all the trimmings, and in 
the right hands has produced some excellent 
games. However, it's been purchased largely by 
non-programmers, so there has been the 
inevitable deluge of questions targeted at F1 
and the programmer. Hence the release of this 
user disk which contains tutorials, help, hints, 
some graphics, a small example game and a 
new version of the Grac Rayer. This disk applies 
to both V1.1 and V2 of Grac so if you're stuck 
or just need some general guidance this disk 
could help you. ■ 



Verdict: 85% 



PD submissions 



If you have some exciting PD disks that you 
would like to be consictered for review in 
Domain Choice, send them in to Amiga 
Shopper, Future Putilishing, 30 Monmouth 
Street, Bath BA1 2BW, clearly marked as a 
PD submission. We welcome any type of 
disk, except games. 

If you are a PD house, make sure you 
include all the information necessary, sucfi 
as how to contact you, how much the disks 
cost and how people can pay. If you are the 
author of the program, state where people 
can get your program from, and whether 
you would like us to consider it for inclusion 
on a future ShopperChoice Coverdisk. 

Information about new PD houses 
or PD authors is accepted for inclusion in 
the PD directory (see box on page 43 for 
further details). 



\ 



m 



42 



iPO 



I September 1996 



Issue 66 



Issue 66 



September 1996 



ShopperPromotions 




AMOS Pro Compiler 2 

Speed up yoiii' AMOS 




we gave it a 



programming with ihc AMOS 

Pro Compiler 2 from 

Kuropress, which F1 

Licenee\\'are haie ic-released 

lor a limited period. II von 
v^ant to know more about the 
program, we ran a review ol it 
in the April 1996 issue, where 
respectable 87 per cent. 



[jBscfiplion 


AMOS Pro ConipMer 2 


AS price 


£14.99 


Order cods 


AS/AM/1 


SpfKal subsc'ibpfs c- ■ 


£13.99 



Mini Office 

A t:olleclion of 
database, spreadsheet 
graphics and word 
processor programs 
from Eu'-opress ihal 
you shouldn't be 
without. It can be espec 
are planning to set up a 




iaily usclu] U > .m 
small business. 



Oesoiption 


Mini Office 


AS plica 


£24.99 


Order code 


CB95 


Sp*H:ial suh'ir.nbefS pnce 


£22.99 




Phase 1 , 2 and 3 



K. .Vt .Compir lei'grapliic 's 
excL-llent CDs are lull of 
W'^^n fonts, cliparl and 
IHmhJ images. Save £4 
^^-j^ olf each CD or 
^^^^P £ 1 5 when you 
^^^^ buv all three! 




Descnprm 




P( :l i 


AS price 




Pack ol three £59.99 (RHP £75) 


AS pnce 




Per CD £21.99 (RRP E24.B9) 


Order code 




AS/PH/1 


Sp-: .1 iijSs 


/ihp'?i pnce 


Pui.k £56,99 


sp-i (., -. .: 




Pr-p CD £19.99 




Mega Mouse 2 and 
scanning pad 

Broken your mouse? Why not replace it with 
the Mega Mouse 2, And oiii' new pad will 
help make vour scanning a doddle. 



Descnplion 


Mega Mouse 2 /scanning pad 


AS price 


Mega Mouse £e,50 


Sliv. I..1 .-.jL' ' 


:.'.- : ' . ■■ .... J.ygg 


AS price 


Scanning pad £6.99 


So--'.-i- subsc 


bers Dnce S.„j'T-i"y \..j:. £6.50 


AS pnce 


Mega IWouse 2 and fcanning pad £14,93 


S|j-..M .-^jr-r 


'>'..■: Mega Mouse 2 and scanrrr^g pac £14.20 


Order code 


Mega Mouse 2 AFMM02 


Order ci^de 


Scanning pad AFSP02 



liirbotech Clock Cartridge 

Your Amiga will always know \\'ha1 day it is vvilh this handy device - 
even when it's switched off! Once ihe soltwar'e is installed, btiol up 

and ihe lime 
and dale are already set. 
Fits into the disk drive 
poll (or on the back of 
vour second drive). 



Descnption 


Irrtxiteth Clock Cartridge 


RRP 


eWM 


AS pnce 


CUM 


Order code 


Asao 


Si>'<: .ti subs: ritWTS pncp 


C1«.M 



Amiga Shopper reader offer order form 



1& 



ues 



Amiga Shopper back issues 

e Up to rssue 46, back issues are £3 each (ones wrlh Coverdisks are £4 
each). Back issues from issue 47 onwards are all £5 each. 

• Prices are per copy and include postage and packing. 

9 Do not send cash through the post with your nrrail orders. 

• Rease make all cheques payable to: Future Publishing Limited. 

n48 ^49 CSO Usi [1 52 U 53 ,_^ 54 : 55 

Dse Ds? r'58 Hsa Eei 62 LJea , 64 
Amiga Shopper mail order 
Description 



Name 



Address 



Don 't despair if you missed an 
issue of your favourite Amiga 
magazine. Just fill /n f/je coupon 
below or call our special order 
hotline on -^^ 01225 8225 11. 

Issue 65 

The Amiga iis the ultiniatA 
multimedia machine but 
LJQ you know how to ^at 
Ihe most out of H? 
Graeme Sandiford has 
jII the information you 
need in ouf extensive 
feature. Reviews of the 
Surf Squirrel, 
Photogenics 3 and 
, XiiP'aint 4 as well as alii 
the usual tutorials and 
regulars. Don't mis^s 
out on this issue. 




63 

Our experts give you 
the lowdown on both 
2D and 3D animation 
and take you, step-by- 
step, through creating, 
credible animations as 
well as rating M the 
software- There's also 
a guide to DTV and 
the Amiga for aiH 
levels- The 
Coverdisks have a 
usable version of 
Wordworth 5 and 
much more, £5 



AMS66 



Postcode 



Phone Number 

Customers outsitje the UK add £4,00 for overseas delli/ery. 

Method of payment Access Visa _, Cheque 

Ploase make cheques payable to: Future Publishing Limited. 
AM prices include posting, packing and VAT. 
Credit Card no 



POD 



Price 


Order Code* 


£ 




C 





Expiry Date 



Total order £ 



'SUBSCRIBERS: Please place a Q Iwfore each order code. 

1 Tick here if you don'l war^t to receive special offers from other 

specially-selected companies. 



Send form to; Amiga Shopper, Future Publishing Ltd, FREEPOST 
(BS4900), Somerton, Somerset TA11 6BR 

Do not send cash. Use the methods of payment listed above. EEC 
custorrers registered for VAT, please quote your registration number: 



AlMQASNOFFER 43 



Shopperllitorial 



CanDo 



John Kennedy 




Part three of the multimedia database tutorial, and now we can add 
fields and decide on the data which is stored. John Kennedy tells all. 




Creating the database was 
relatively simple, because 
CanDo has a lot of functions 
built-in which are designed 
especially for this purpose. 
In fact, all we have to do is select the type 
of item which we need stored. 

This month, we'll endeavour to create 
a text-field which stores the name of a 
sound sample. Then when you click on 
a nearby button, the sound sample will 
be played. 

Imagine using this as a basis for a record 
collection database, in which you can store the 
name of all your favourite records and also 



include a short sample from each. 

We'll deal with different types of file later. 
Firstly, let's see how it is possible to add some 
fields into each record of the database. 
We'll need to take the routines we pinched from 
a tutorial file last month, and assign them to the 
various buttons. In other words, when the user 
clicks on the button the routine is called. 

By the way, it is very important to remember 
that you don't change the name of the routines 
when you are transferring them between decks. 

Next we'll define some fields, then add 
some scripting routines which can deal with 
the elements in the database and process them 
as necessary, ■ 



Assigning routines 



inor ihtti BDUtf k^ it tin lUb^'iiirr 



Zit-ior/Htui \nn 



MHIM»*M#i«4il 
NMIIf>iitlMt«ll 

M I £llt trltti Cm 



nvi4«iutry 



I ' \^ 



f. .UH. 



f! 



1. Last monttii 
you stiould 
have loaded 
ttie example 
deck called 
"DBBasedeck" 
and saved all 
\\s routines. 
Ttiese couid 
thien be loaded 
into our own 
graptilcally 
stunning deck. 



2. Now we need to 
assign the routines to 
ttte various buttons. Tills 
Isn't so hiard to do: for 
exampte, edit ttie 
Trastican button, and 
select ttie Release 
script. Now use the 
Special menu entry 
Routines, tiigtilight the 
DeleteEntry script and 
insert a "Do to this 
routine". 



IQUgr^HtmH 



t: -N[iti.tiiI1ia~ [vHt: 'lilMir- 



[iwrt thi hini »f ^ij Koitiw 
lH*rl I *•>' U tHU iHliM 
■ M Uit UMi Iff 

(lit 



I ItmHtiiiH 
'rwiomidtrt 
Hmtim Nm tl*tjl »il)tt{ntrr 














W 




Delete Entry 
Previous Entry 

Next Entry 
Add Entry 



3. You should continue this process, 
assigningi the following routines to the 
relevant buttons. You should have a few 
routines left over, but we can deal with 
those later. 



September 1996 



Issue 66 



John Kennedy 



CanDo 



ShopperTlitorial 



Adding fields 




4. Now we need to define what 
information is to be stored. At the 
moment we have a database framewortc 
wfiich can load and select various 
"records", but no data can be added or 
viewed. It's time to deal with "fields". The 
database consists of records^ and each 
record has one or more fields. 



HlMb 



'?•« > 




ElttiK 


ttrittt... 




ItlKl 


jHt'lLCftlW 


tr(v« 


Efi-Mi *i 





Objtcts , . , 
flararanttAchment 



miiBBiiEaaiQ 



tvf »r« E>* t «c hM e 




Click K«r* to adit th* 
BCf-lpt whicli is VKVcuttd 
*v*rvt tn» thl* pas* la 
d i »rI «v*d . 



J_ 



Vert 

Opt ions 
S*l>ct*d 
Diiablvd 

Ta99 I* 




Cjnc* t 



7. You may want to add a name for this field. 
Go back to the deck script "After Attachment" 
and add some text to describe the field. For 
example, "Sound Sample". 



S. Now we need a way to act on the data 
stored in the field. For example, we may 
want to play the sound sample whose 
name is displayed. To do this, add a new 
button, and locate it beside the field, as 
shown in the picture. 



5. We need to add fields to our database. Click on 
the field icon, and select ADD. Define a long 
rectangle in the middle of the screen, and then 
name it ".filename". The full stop at the start of 
the name is essential. 




6. When yoj Drowse tne oeck, you will see 
that you can now use the Add button to create 
a new entry, and then use the arrow keys to 
move back and forward between the entries 
you have typed in previously. 



Iiltw; Trltrtiinr Cvwt: ■!>!««>- 



L*t H'lC'iJtAlMltMfHl.f il< 

fotftllM M 
rlJVHWri Ht 

IrtPriilFMl 't>N<''l 
ktn-iititrl* HIM ,1,3 
ktPH 1,1 



|M«W 



rrittltxt 'tarn, cMM't <i*d filri' 



9. Now we can edit the Release script of the 
button, and add the following. The script will 
obtain the filename from the database, check 
to see if the file exists, then test to see that the 
file is a sound sample. If it is, it's played. 



Today's menu 



The Amiga 's operating system ma/tes extensii^e use of the 
pull-down menu, and there 's no reason why you can 't 
either. Here 's how to add some menus to the database 
program. You might want to add more functions via 
the menus too, and once you get the hang of it, it's 
pretty simple. Remember to look at existing Amiga 
applications when designing the menu layout. 




H IwUJ-ii. ikr. »in Mug" 



mit.1 .i.illTTTTn 



I 




n»rm ifw/iUmt 



9avm vaxmbmmr 



ILvad '•*tabB>* 



'i 



4. Edit 

:£, Cwy *r 

Exit 



10. You'll remember we had some scripts left 
over: Load and Save were two of them. Let's 
add them to a pull-down menu, available 
from our application. First of all, click on the 
Menu button. 



11. Now create a new menu. You'll then be given 
the option to add or edit menu items. Rememtier 
that each menu can have several options. 



12. Each menu item has an associated script 

which can be edited in the same way as a 

button. Here we call one of the routines we 

entered earlier. 







ltiW»: 1*1* ht^«<' EmI: ^hxav^ 



i* -LubtAw' 



Ita Hfift im httu 



A 

m 

m 

m 



Issue 66 



September 1996 



Amrmj 



45 



Shopperlkitorial 



Programming 



Paul Overaa 



This month Paul Overaa gives you more details on the port swapping technique 

that enables the use of Gadtool gadgets within conventional IHISoft Basic created windows. 



Installing a new message port is easy 
enough because the exec library 
contains a CreateMsgPort&O routine 
that takes care of most of the hard 
work. It allocates a suitably sized 
structure, acquires a signal bit, and generally 
initialises the message port so that our code 
is signalled whenever messages arrive. As a 
safety precaution normal multitasking is 
suspended whilst swapping the message 
port pointers and this is done by 
sandwiching the pointer related code 
between exec ForbidO/PermitO calls. 

Before the program terminates it's 
necessary to replace the HiSoft port pointer 
back in the Window structure. This allows the 
normal window closing operations to rernove the 
original port and the additional port can then be 
deleted using exec's DeleteMsgPortO function 
(Listing One shows the overall framework for the 
port creation and dismantling operations). 

Once the new port has been installed the 
window's IDCMP flag set can be modified to 
request the additional messages required by the 
Gadlool gadgets. Certainly with many programs 
It would be OK to make changes to the flag set 
just once - immediately after the new port had 
been attached to the window. However there 
are a number of potential problems: 
Firstly, HiSoft Basic may on occasions modify 
the IDCMP flags on the fly. Secondly, there was 
no guarantee, when such adjustments were 



Listing One 



<Window is already open at this point > 

g orig port p&=PEEKL (g window p&+ 
UserPortM.) 

Q new port pA=Create MsgPort&() 

CALL Forbid 

POKEL g_window p&+ 
UserPort%,g new port p& 

CALL Permit . . < TTiis is wtiere the main 
event collection loop goes! > . . CALL Forbid 

POKEL g window. p&+UserPort%,g 
orig port p& replace original window port 

CALL Permit 

CALL OeleteMsgPort (g new port p&) 
'Window closing deletes original port 

WINDOW CLOSE 1 

• Overall code tramevkiork used to set up 
and dismantle the message port that 
Intercepts the HiSoft Basic message stream. 



46 AMKiaSMOFFER 



Hwiga Shopper Test 11 



Nane : 

Occupat ion : 

Street ; 

Toun : 

County : 

Bankers : 

Recount No: 

Nat Ins No; 

Date of Birth: 

Conpuserve ID: 



(JOHN DOE 1 




IflCCOlMTHHT " 1 




lUNKNOUN 1 




IDNKNOUH 1 




ISULFOLK ■ 1 




IConf ident i a 


> 1 




IConf ident i a 


» 1 




|NOt Hccessi 


Die 




115-84-42 1 




INot Rccessi 


ble 1 



A change of window size and the gadget count (plus some new gadget labels) were alt that was 
required to produce this modified testll example (also on the coverdish). 



made that HiSoft Basic would preserve the 
states of any IDCMP flags that it was itself not 
using (although I'm now happy that it does). 

Because of these concerns I was originally 
collecting and re-adjustmg the flag set at every 
possible opportunity. This meant that some 
unnecessary flag modification work was being 
done in last month's examples (a small price to 
pay during the early port swapping trials). It 
would be more efficient to isolate the flag 
adjustment code into a separate routine and, 
based on the statements present in a particular 
Basic program, to only adjust the flag set when 
there was a valid reason for doing so. You'll find 
this approach used in this month's example (see 
Listing Two for details of the ModifyFlagsO 
routine) and the important thing to note is that 
we read the existing flags and then OR them 
with the new additions. This ensures that all 
existing HiSoft flag settings are preserved! 

One discovery I made whilst testing this 
routime is that HiSoft Basic's timer faciilities are 
not (as I had previously assumed) based on the 
reception of IDCMP„1NTUITICKS& 
IntuiMessages. This means timer events do not 
in themselves ever result in the GadTools 
Handler%{) routine's wait condition being 
satisfied. Because of this it's necessary during 
the times that no gadget or menu messages are 
arriving to find some way of breaking the wait 
condition and exiting from the 
GadToolsHandlerO so that HiSoft Basic can be 
given a chance to handle any timer (and 
perhaps other non-message based) events. The 



September 1996 



solution is to arrange for IDCMP_INTUITICKS<S 
messages to be sent to my substitute port and 
this is why you'll also find this flag specified in 
the call to the ModifyFlagsO routine! 

Message Collection 

I dealt with the arrangements for message 
handling in installmient three mentioning that 
whilst conventional IntuifVlessages are handled 
using the exec GetMsg&() and ReplyMsgO 
functions, Gadtool messages need to be dealt 
with using the equivalent GT_GetlMsg<l() and 
GT_RelylMsg() routines. One additional problem 
is that these sets of routines have to be properly 
paired - if. for example, we collect our 



Listing Two 



SUB ModifyFlagstBYVAL win p&, BYVAL 
flags&) 

STATIC current port p& 

STATIC IDCMP flags&STATIC dummy& 

current port p&=PEEKL(win p&+User 
PortW) 

IDCMPflags&-PEEKL(winp&-)-Window 
IDCMPFIags<Vb)'get flags set by HiSoft 

REM Now add flags for gadtool gadgets 
being used... 

IDCMP flags&=IDCMP flagsi OR 
fl3gs& 

dummv&=:ModifylDCMP&(wln_p&, 
IDCMP flags&)ENDSUB 

• This sub program add new flags to an 
existing IDCMP flag set wittiout destroying 
other values that exist. 



Issue 66 



Paul Overaa 



Programming 



ShopperTUtorial 



Jargon Box 



Using a pointer 
to a pointer. 

Intuition Direct Communicatians 
Message Port 

A variable holding the address of 
an object in memory. 



messages using GT_GetlMsg&() then we need 
to reply to them using GTReplylMsgO. You 
need to be aware that HiSoft Basic, in dealing 
with a normal Intuition message stream, is using 
GetMsg&O/ReplyMsgO calls - so any messages 
passed on to HiSoft Basic are going to need to 
be collected from our port using GetMsg&O, 
rather than GT_GetlMsg&0. 

Luckily Gadtools provides a filter function, 
GT_FilterlMsg&(), that allows a message, 
previously collected via GetMsg&(), to be 
subsequently passed through the Gadtools 
engine. The routine asks Gadtools to consider 
and possibly act on the specified message and, 
if that message applies to a Gadtool gadget, to 
return a pointer to a modified Gadtools version. 
At this stage the various message fields of a 
Gadtool generated message (class, code and 
so on) can be read just as if GT_GetlMsg&() 
had been used [the function can also return a 
null pointer to indicate that the message was 
consumed (used) by Gadtools). 

Once the contents of the (possibly 
modified) message have been extracted a 
GT_PostF(lterlMsgA() routine then has to be 
called to allow Gadtools to perform any internal 
cleanup operations which may be required. All 
messages, including any consumed by 
Gadtools, then have to be replied to. As you'll 
see from Listing Three I've explicitly checked the 
now separately stored pointer returned from 
GT_GetlMsg&() and properly replied to the 
original message if the modified 
GT_FilterlMsg&() pointer came back as null. 

Reading a String Gadget 

Example testlO.bas. which you'll find on this 
month's coverdisk. Is based on last month's 



Listing Three 



message p&=GetMsg&(current port p&) 

modified message_p&=GT FilterlM5s& 
(message p&) IF 
(modified message .p&) THEN 

cla5S&=PEEKL(modified message 
p&+Class%> 

code%=PEEKW(modified message 
p&-*-lntuJMessageCode%) 

gadget p&=PEEKUmoditied 
message p&+IAddress%) 

message pi=GT PostFilterlMsgA 
(modified message p&) 

< Basic SELECT i::ASe statements 
can be used here to identify and act upon 
the various message classes. See coverdisk 
code for details > 

ELSE ReplyMsgfmessage p4)' 
ensure reply of Gadtool consumed 
messages! 

END IF 

• General framewortt for filtering messages 
through the Gadtools engine. 



□ I flwiga Shopper Test 9 



Nane: | test 

Rddress: | 

County: I 

Postcode i 



String gadget used = 1 



Issue 66 



tests. bas code but with the 
improvements mentioned above. In 
addition, anything typed into a string 
gadget now gets re-displayed along 
with details of the gadget used. The 
ShowMessageO routine used to achieve 
this is similar to that used im earlier 
examples although you'll notice from the 
source that I've now parameterised the 
stnng x/y location co-ordinates and the timeout 
(delay) values used when displaying the text. 
This makes the routine a little more flexible. 

In order to display the contents of a string 
gadget it's necessary to locate the internal 
buffer in which the text is stored and several 
steps are involved: Firstly, we look in the gadget 
field specified by the GadgetSpeciallnfo% offset 
(defined in the intuition.be constants file). This 
field provides a pointer to a Stnnglnfo structure 
whose first field is a pointer to the text buffer. 
Secondly we need to extract this address in 
order to locate the string itself. The most 
convenient place to collect the buffer addresses 
is in the gadget creation loop because the 
gadget's address is returned each time the 
CreateGadgetA&() is used. By setting up an 
array to store the addresses of the gadgets 
being prepared like this... 

DIMg_string^buffer&(G^C0UNT&+1)it's 
possible to read the buffer address of each 
gadget by using this sort of double indirection 
statement... 

g string buffer&(H-1)=PEEKL(PEEKL(gadget 
pB.-1-GadgetSpecla II nfo%)) 

By the time all gadgets are created the 
g_string_butfer&() array will be set up in such a 
way that the text input for the i'th gadget will 
always be available via the g_string_buffer&(i) 
pointer. You need to be aware incidentally that 
the string gadget contents are stored as C- 
strings (i.e. they are null terminated). Because of 
this it's necessary to use PEEK$() to convert 
them to normal Basic strings before printing (or 
using them as input to any other Basic 
statements). Listing Four gives an illustration of 
how this IS done. 

Putting It All Together 

The whole purpose of the port swapping 
approach has been to find a way to combine 
Gadtool gadgets with the more conventional 
facilities that HiSoft Basic provides and the 
testi O.bas example will hopefully convince you 
that the path is worth following. As I've said, the 
code is based on the tesl9.bas example from 
last month but in addition to the changes 
already discussed I've also added timer and left 
mouse button event handlers using conventional 
HiSoft Basic commands. All the event handlers 



September 1 996 



LEfT: The code Is an 

extension of the tests 

string gadget from 

last month, 

BELOW: 

The display produced 

by this months lestlO 

program. 



CMltttV 



PostcDdv; !■«»■ f atcod*-" 



You t ypvd 5 one Han* . 



are simple (they just deliver text messages) but 
this is neither here nor there - what matters is 
that we now have HiSoft Basic handling the 
close gadget, menu events, timer events and left 
mouse button events in it's conventional high- 
level way. but coupled to a set of Gadtool 
gadgets that generate their own events. 

I'd been told it couldn't be done but run the 
program and watch the display. Every second or 
so you'll see a timer event message appear near 
the right of the display. Click the left mouse 
button somewhere in the window (not in one of 
the string gadgets) and some text will appear 
indicating that a mouse event has occurred. Pick 
a menu item - the number of the item you have 
selected will be displayed. Now type something 
into one of the stnng gadgets - here my 
GadToolsHandler%() kicks in to identify the 
gadget although again it is the subsequent 
conventional Basic code that tells you what you 
typed and which gadget was used. If this isn't 
proof that the gadgets are working perfectly well 
with HiSoft 's other facilities I don't know what is! 

Although we've come to the end of this 
series, this last example is just a starting point - 
any number of utilities could be produced just 
by modifying the gadget creation routine to add 
the gadgets needed, and then just hanging 
various pieces of 'real' code onto the case 
select statements in the main gadget loop. ■ 



Listing Four 



IF(g gadget_itf%>0)THEH 
SELECT CASE g gadget id% 

case 1 to g count* 

c:all 

ShowMessage(GADGET1$-i-PEEK$(gstrJng 
buffer&(g gadget idWt, 

GEN X<Xi,GEN Y<)1],TIME0UT&) 

call 

ShowMessage(GADGET2$-fG TeXT$(g gad 
get id%)-l-GADGET3$, 

GEN X%,GEN Y<l^,TirMEOUT&) 
CASE ELSE 

BEEP END SELECT 

• The gadget identity, coupled with the pre- 
Initialised array of string gadget buffer 
pointefs, maices it easy to determine the text 
typed into a gadget! 



47 



ShopperViewf^^jM^'^^l '-®tt^''S 



David Taylor 




Obviously we've had bags of letters 
from disgruntled readers, although 
some have been iiuderstandhig, 
while elsewhere there's praise and 
ideas on the road forward for the 
Amiga. Read on... 



A 



nother chance 
for you, the 
readers, to get it 
all off your 
chests and let us 
know what you think about the 
magazine, the future of the 
Amiga, or anything else for 
that matter. 

Going round 
in circles 

Remember the C64? It was still 
being explored by programmers 
and being pushed in directions 
originally thought impossible 
when... well, you know what 
happened. C64 magazines like 
Commodore Format got smaller, 
more technical and became 
hobbyist magazines until... seen 
any lately? 

Does history repeat itself? 
Can the Amiga survive without 
support? As magazines get more 
expensive we are forced to reduce 
the number we purchase each 
month. Less readership equals 
less production, higher pnnt costs 
and magazine price hikes. The 
circle continues. If this trend 
carries on we will witness yet 
another computer going to the 
technology museum. 

L Burse 
Chippertham 

I am a subscriber to AS, a 
magazine I have enjoyed, but I was 
bitterly disappointed when I 
received the July issue for three 
reasons. Firstly the magazine had 
only 58 pages, secondly there was 
a Coverdisk missing and thirdly the 
price had increased to £4,50. 

Let me put this into 
perspective: last Apnl it was 1 1 4 
sides for £3.95, then £3.99 for 
1 06 pages and then £4.25 for 80 
pages and now a 3 tier attack. You 
make the excuse that it is the lack 
of advertiser confidence. How can 



you expect the customer to have 
confidence and take out a 
subscription (or a magazine which 
is over-priced. Perhaps you should 
consider merging two Amiga titles 
together until confidence returns 
to the Amiga? 

B Hannaway 
Derry 

Well, as you can imagine we've 
had plenty of letters and e-mails 
and there's been lots ol talk on 
Fidonet about the state ol AS. 
The circle does indeed continue 
and there is no way to break it, 
I'm afraid. There have been 
suggestions that dropping the 
disks and the paper quality and 
the price would bring back 
readers. The truth is that there 
aren't enough Amiga owners out 
there to make a signilicant 
difference, whether they currently 
buy Amiga mags or not. Active 
interest in the Amiga is declining 
and AS has done very well to 
retain the readership it has. We 
have been the slowest declining 
of all the mags and I think that is 
a credit to the quality of the 
magazine and its writers. 
However, we started with a lower 
readership than other mags 
because of our niche status and 
each drop in circulation takes us 
closer to the butcher's knife. 
I don't understand why a 
subscriber should complain about 
the price rise as they haven't been 
expected to pay a single penny 
more, so in fact they've saved 
over normal readers. I wasn't 
attempting to make any excuses 
for the price rise and loss of a 
disk. It is not something that I 
wanted to see, but it was, as / 
said, a choice between that and 
the closure of the magazine, 
which is not what readers want. It 
seems better to give people at 
least the chance to decide for 
themselves whether they want to 



buy the magazine than to give 
them no chance at alt. The 
number of advertisers does 
govern the size and price of a 
magazine - it is as simple as a 
publisher typing the number of ad 
pages into a spreadsheet and 
being told how many pages the 
magazine can afford. If things 
continue to deteriorate, then I'm 
sure you will see us merge back 
with the mothership from whence 
we came (er, Amiga Format, 
I mean). 

Over the pond 

I have just purchased your July 
1 996 issue from an Amiga dealer 
in White Plains, New York. I've 
been buying your excellent 
magazine for at least three years, 
probably longer. When I first 
started reading, I sent a note to 
your office asking for subscription 
details, in particular the easiest 
way to subscribe from the USA. 
I received a scrawled reply that I 
couldn't read. 

I also mentioned that I was a 
member of three Amiga user 
groups and would be willing to 
pass this information on to the 
other members, especially as many 
of them are buying AS from 
dealers or bookstores. When I 
read your editorial stating that you 
would like more direct 
subscriptions, I decided to write 
again. How can we subscribe? 

One other request, on page 
1 4 you mention a book called First 
Steps Amiga by Paul Overaa from 
Bookmark Publishing. What's their 
address? 

W Modell 
Bronx, New York 

Subscribing is easy and we have 
plenty of US subscribers already. 
All you need do is send in your 
details to our Subscription 
department or phone them. Mark 
any tetters clearly for them. The 



easiest way to pay would be with 
a credit card as they would 
handle the currency exchange for 
you. As for Bookmark, their 
address is the same as HiSoft's 
which is The Old School, 
Greenlield. Bedford MK45 5DE. 

Perfect Project 

Thank you very much for the LCD 
DIY project, it is great. Please can 
we have some more? Good luck 
trying to survive. You are definitely 
the best Amiga magazine. It will be 
a great shame if you stop. 

C Jones 
Brighton 

Glad you liked the project. The 
credit must all go to Hendrik for 
creating it though. You'll be 
pleased to see a tittle extra utility 
for it on this month 's disk. Thanks 
for the good wishes. We certainly 
need them! 

Thank you all 

I really thought that it was time to 
put Inkjet to paper and say a big 
thank you to yourselves. Quantum 
Leap (the new owners of the old 
Rombo Vidi 24RT) and the Post 
Office. An unlikely combination in 
anyone's view, but let me explain. 

When reading the May edition 
of AS, particularly the article on 
the Vidi, I thought it would be an 
invaluable asset in connection with 
my Wedding Video service. The 
next section that I looked at was 
the Reader Ads and to my 
amazement someone was actually 
selling one and so I telephoned 
the number and lucky old me, it 
hadn't been sold. So, I arranged 
the purchase and got it delivered. 

Within the week I was the 
proud owner of a Vidi 24RT and 
saved myself £1 00 into the 
bargain. I then began the process 
of learning how to use it to the 
best advantage with my SVHS 
VTRs and editing suite {Editman 



48 



I September 1996 



I Issue 66 



David Taylor 



Letters 



^ ^^^gjjn p pe r Views 



Pro SP) which controls my PC 
(ugh) and my Amiga 4000/030 
(hurrah) and in turn Scala, 
animations and Iffs and a 
Panasonic MX30. 

The only problem that I 
encountered was the lack of a 
suitable lead from the parallel port 
to the Vidi 24 RT and this is why I 
contacted Quantum Leap who 
offered to supply the lead for a 
very modest sum. This was at 
1 630 hrs and bearing in mind that 
they are in Livingstone, Scotland 
and I am in South Devon, you can 
imagine my surprise when at 0830 
hrs the following morning it arrived 
on my doorstep, thanks to the 
efficiency of the Post Office. I then 
realised that I would have some 
difficulty in reachiing behind my 
computer each time I wanted to 
print anything as I would have to 
change cables every time, I bought 
a switch box to connect Vidi. 
printer and my Digital Sound 
Sampler. The next problem was 
that I need a cable with a male at 
each end, so I again contacted 
Quantum and the very next day at 
breakfast the lead arrived. 

I then thought my installation 
problems were at an end. but I 
had requested a lead 1 8" long and 
this coupled with about 5" of 
wiring within the switch box 
caused some problems with the 
Vidi and so another phone call to 
Quantum got me a shorter lead at 
no extra charge, even though I had 
not actually purchased the unit 
from them originally 

And so I would like to thank all 
concerned in the above. Life can 
often be difficult and we all tend to 
complain, so it's nice instead to 
have the opportunity to say "Thank 
you all." 

B Hunter 
Newton Abbot 

It's great to see that some 
companies do still care about the 
customer. I'm glad to hear that 
you've got your system working to 
your requirements. It does seem 
that the one professional area 
where the Amiga is still cutting it, 
despite no! seeing any advances 
for a few years, is the video 
industry. The PC is just not up to 
it stilt. We have even fjad letters 
from foreign TV stations I fiat make 
use of the Amiga because of its 
ease of use and quality in respect 
of video work. 



Power up 



So the Amiga has been sold again 
and we're all wondering what the 
future holds for the Amiga and 
how it's going to compete with the 




The "MindWalker" from Amiga 
Tecttnologies - the Amiga that never was. 



juggernaut competition from the 
PC. Take a look at the letters 
pages of the recent Amiga press 
and you'll see that users want PC 
expansion slots in their Amigas to 
take advantage of all the cheap 
PC hardware out there, they want 
Doom (for crying out loud!) and 
they want faster processors. 

You'll notice that editorial staff 
of Amiga mags (including AS) are 
starting to use PC originated 
terms like 'Plug and Play" in place 
of Amiga native legends like 
"Autoconfiig" to describe hardware. 
What does this tell you? To me it 
looks as if what Amiga users really 
want is a PCI 

OK, so maybe not in so many 
words, but don't forget that PC 
stands for Personal Computer and 
not Computer at the mercy of 
Microsoft. Those things really suck. 
Believe me, I know, I work iin PC 
Technical Support. Of course, we 
all want to use Amigas, but we 
want cheap hardware as well. 
I suggest that the way forward for 
the Amiga is as follows: 

1) Make the machine maimly PCI 
based but with some Zorro slots 
for those who want to install 
hardware from their current Amiga. 
After all anything available on 
Zorro is available for less money 
and better quality on PCI. 

2) Scrap any development of 
future Amiga chipsets, unless of 
course it is going to be 
comparable in price and power to 
equivalent PCI graphics cards. 

!f this is the case, then the chipset 
must be on a card so that it can 
be replaced with updated versions 
in the future. 



3) Learn from Apple's mistakes. 
This is a much bigger company 
than AT and if they can't survive on 

the strengths of their own 
machine, how can AT hope to? 
Concentrate on the development 
of the OS and licence it to 
whoever wants it. 

There will be those who will 
wonder how much such a machine 
will remain an Amiga at heart. The 
thing is, what set the Amiga apart 
frorr the rest was its chipset. At 
the time of its release in 1 985, 
there was nothing else like the 
Amiga There was absolutely no 
competition for the price. 
Unfortunately due to the 
unbelievable attitude and 
mismanagement by the Amiga's 
custodians, development of the 
Amiga stagnated and the 
competition simply caught up. The 
result IS that competitive hardware 
has been mass produced for a 
much cheaper price until now, in 
1 996, there is no need for 
propriety chipsets such as AGA or 
even AAA. 

The way I see it is that Amiga 
users have their computers for 



Advertisers' index 



either or both of the following 
reasons: games or productivity. 

Now if you are using the 
Amiga for productivity, you're using 
applications which make use of 
the OS. This is when you are truly 
using the Amiga itself. However, if 
you are play ling games then the 
chances are that the programmer 
has thrown the OS out of the 
window. You're not really using the 
Amiga then are you? After all. 
would you say that you are using 
an Amiga just because you 
happen to be playing W/orms? Of 
course not, after all this is a game 
available for the PC tool 

My point is that a game can 
be made available for any platform 
as long as the hardware is up to it. 
as can productivity software so 
long as it can run the necessary 
OS. I think it's about time that 
Amiga users swallowed their pride 
and caught up with the 90s and 
demanded a fast PowerPC 
machine from AT, bundled with 
AmigaOS, which has all the 
features I describe above and a 
curvy case with Amiga slapped on 
it! The result? A cheap, fast 
computer running AmigaOS that's 
easily and cheaply expanded and 
can play Descent and Vi/orms. I 
wrote this letter using Wordworth 
on my Amiga at home and I'd like 
to be able to do the same in three 
years time. 

J McBrlen 
Basingstoke 

Plug and Play! Great term, but as 
you probably know, one that's 
been referred to as Plug and Pray 
by most PC users. The idea is 
tfiat hardware is automatically 
detected, fiuh! So why do you 
have to use the BIOS and FDisk 
before you can use Add New 
Hardware to get your PC to 
recognise a new hard drive under 
Win95. No, I agree with you. A 
fast, expandable, cfieap machine 
which can run other systems and 
platforms, but has the best OS 
around. We'll have to wait and 
see. Maybe VIScorp have 
something even better in mind. ■ 



Issue 66 I 



September 1996 I 



49 



The essential magazine for Amiga enthusiasts 




Issue 67 




The Amiga Hotjava Porting Project 
P'Jaml 



HoPJava 



tP H wHWMi (Dt&Bt ■RdVi'V kj]4 vtd). ifu> Ktn 

*')!P I Tutfj ■ tini >i>M iwJitB Ti. iiimin ■ iim' 
tdfir mHtMi ty MjMi uk « inn mm 



1^ 



t* mm^ 1D nna 'Mr n ■ mA c ra& u t^ 



Future Publl»lilng'« daily electronic magazine 



VVhal'* n*w on FuliireNFt 

^fon i?'.«.n ?ti n*v f«»Turtt tdd*d tv^i^^ vmX - loci.' r muf 'Jiin 
Hot orrik* rivvi.. 



Caught in 
the Net. 



Amiga Shopper goes Cyber fishing next month 
and brings you the choicest catch. We'll be 
looking at the best service providers for the 
Amiga, the choice of Web brov^/sers and the Web 
sites that every Amiga surfer should have as 
bookmarks. Is the Internet worth the hassle or is it 
over-hyped media rubbish? This will be the 
essential guide for those already connected or 
those considering hooking up! 



Amksa 



Reserve your copy today! 

Remember that the easiest way to ensure 
that you get hold of the August 1996 issue 
of Amiga Shopper is to reserve yourself a 
copy at your local neusagenl. Fill in and 
cut out this form, or photocopy it, and 
give it to your newsagent. 

Dear Newsagent, 

Please reserve/deliver a copy of Amiga Shopper 
magazine each month. 



Name. 



Address., 



Phone no 

To the newsagent: Amiga Shopper is published 
by Future Publishing 1r 01225 442244. 



Reviews 

There will be comprehensive 
reviews of the best new 
Amiga products including the 
latest version of the German 
animation package - 
ClariSSA Pro, the CD^^ p^^ 
Module and the Apollo 1 260 
accelerator board. 



\Nhy not take advantage of our 
special six-month subscription 
deal? Telephone the Subscription 
Ho(//ne on n 01 225 822511. 



Regular 

As usual we'll also 
bring you the very 
best Amiga 
Answers, tutorials 
and the best from 
the Public 
Domain. 




October issue 67 on sale Tuesday 20th August 1996 



GASTEINER 



TEL: 0181 345 6000 fax: oi8i 345 eses 

18-22 Sterling Way, North Circular Road, Edmonton, London N18 2YZ 

Open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm 



MEMORY SIMMS 

Lowest prices guaranteed for S)MMS for A4000, 
Viper, Apollo, Magnum, Hawk and many other 
<ards - Phone for details today! 

72PIN 32BIT 

2MB £39 

4Ma £39 

8MB £59 

16MB £129 

32MB £299 

SOPm 16BIT 

1MB , £15 

4Me £70 

Limited stock so hurryl For FPU see our offer!! 

ACCELERATORS 

Lowest prices guaranteed. 

Viper, Apollo and many other cards - 

Phone for details today! 

VIPER ISHHz ^QMHi 

0MB £119 ...£199 

4MB £163 ...£243 

8MB ..,..£198 ...£278 

16MB £298 ...£378 

BUZZARD 1230 wmu 

0M8 £189 

4MB £233 

8MB £248 

16MB £328 

APOLLO 2SMHz SOMIh 

0MB £95 ...£199 

4MB £139 ...£243 

8MB £174 ...£278 

16MB £274 ...£378 

Apollo 040 coming soon - Ring for price! 
Very limited stock so hurry!! 

MODEMS 

MOTOROU\ 28.8 FAX & MODEMS ...£149 
Limited stock only 
NOWWE ARE SURFING! 

PREl^TERS 

EPSON 

COLOUR II £199.00 

COLOUR IIS £243.00 

PR0XL-A3 £1009.33 

STYLUS COLOUR II £339.58 

HR0A4 £457.08 

HEWLETT PACKARD 

320 ..£198,58 

660 £299.08 

850C £486,58 

FPU MATHS-COPRO 

FPU INCREASES SPEED ON AMIGA RAM CARDS 
& ACCELERATORS 

28MHz £20 

33MHz £33 

50MHz £69 

Buy FPU with any of our RAM cards & 
get FPU for half price 



RAM EXPANSION 



Lowest prices guaranteed 








A1200 RAM CARDS 








WITH CLOCK (f FPU SOCKFJ 








2MB 

4MB 


£89 

£75 






8MB 


...£129 






A600 RAM CARD 








1MB 


£20 






1MB WITH CLOCK 


35 






A 500 RAM CARD 








0.5MB 


f15 






A 500 PLUS RAM CARD 




1MB 


£20 






MONITORS 








MICROVITEC 1438 


...£259 






SAMSUNG 15" 


...£319 






SAMSUNG 17- 


...£519 




SONY IS" 


...£399 




SONY 17" 


...£679 






GASTEINER 14" 


...£299 






GASTEINER 15" 


...£379 






GASTEINER 17" 


...£469 






VGA Adaptor needed- 








CARTRLDGES 






SYQUEST CARTS 


i.\ \AI 


[.1/ 


/.Vfl.-l/ 


44MB 


.£25.00 


..£4.38 


£29.38 


88MB 


.£27.95 


..£4.90 


£32.85 


105MB 


.£25.00 


..£4.38 


£29.38 


200MB 


.£42.95 


..£7.52 


£50.47 


270MB 


.£39.95 
.£13.50 


..£7.00 
..£2.37 


£46.95 


EZ 135 


£15.87 


ZIP CARTS 




100MB 


.£10.50 


..£1.84 


£12.34 


JAZZ 1GIG 


..£POA 


..,£POA 


..£POA 



REMOVABLE MEDIA 

S YQUES T IS I hk \A I & fxnK .v. i / 

88MB EXT £233.83 

200MB EXT £351.33 

270MB INT. £259.08 

270MB EXT £351.33 

EZ 135 EXT, £129.00 

IOMEGA 

ZIPP 100MB £163.32 

JAZZ 1GIG INT £445.33 

JAZZ 1GIG EXT. ..£480.58 

SCSI Card or Squirrel is needed to run SCSI 
devices on Amiga 

CD-ROMS & CD WRITERS 

CD-ROMS 

NEW 2 SPEED £116.33 

NEW4SPEED £198.58 

NEC 6 SPEED £351.33 

CD'WRITERS 

PINNACLE £739.07 

RICOH 2 SPEED £927.08 

SCSI Card or Squirrel is needed to run SCSI 
devices on Amiga 



HARD DRIVES 

IDE 2 5" HARD DRIITS roit Atoo, aiioo. s.x i t- sxu 

40MB £45 

60MB £50 

BOMB £59 

120MB £89 

170MB £99 

210M8 £109 

250MB £119 

340Me.. £129 

540Me £189 

800MB £249 

Complete with software and cables 

STOP! 6f THTNK 

D\> \'0M rtdlh want somiiym 1^ tmliiti lict^hfnch tr / OdMB of 
PiiWif Domain sajrwarr, and iha^ more for it?. . . 

. . . Buy from us and save money! 
3-3" SITM IDE HARD DRBES FORA4(m(.Aiioo 

540MB £139 

850MB £159 

1.3GIG £179 

1.6GIG £199 

2GIG £259 

Complete with software and cables 

SCSI HARD DRIVES 

lOOMB £49 

540MB £139 

IGIG £219 

2GIG £399 

4GIG £799 

EXTERNAL SCSI CASE with poweh supplv £59 

SCSI Card or Squirrel is needed to run SCSI 
Devices on Amiga 

SCSI CARDS 

FORA600&rAl200 

SQUIRREL £50 

SQUIRREL SURF £95 

SQUIRREL MPEG £195 

FOR A 1 500, A2000 & A4000 

OCTOGQN4008 £99 

SCSI Card or Squirrel is needed to run SCSI 
devices on Amiga 

WE ALSO SELL MANY CONSUMABLES 

- PHONE FOR DETAILS 

DELIVERY CHARGES 

Small consumables and software Items under the value of 
£59 please add £3.50 P&P. Other items encept lasers, courier 
service £10 per box. Off-shore and Highlands: please call for 
a quotation. In addition we offer the following express 
services: Saturday delivery - normal rate plus £15 per box; 
morning, next day- normal rate plus £10 per box. E&OE 
Prices are subject to change without prior notice. All 
trademarks acknowledged. 
Worlwide delivery available. 

Government and major pic purchase orders welcome- Trade 
enquiries welcome. 



ROM^iai-iHiM„.iai-RQM...iai-itOM...ia^ROiiL.xD-iQiiL..iai-imL..ia^iiii^ 




WORKBENCH" 



^ADD-GIN/ , 



Workbench Add-On 
Volume 1 



wD«lb»f«h On •*»* CO >«i •>"■ not only hnd Ih* b*iP progrnniii, Hhol 
or* ovoltabl* ftH *m Aim^. bm )<h# wJ «rfw Qdr ihwn rMdy-tCKi^ 
FroiM lh« CD In oAdHian Ip Awt ri>«<« ■* «n miMhi tetipi ihiil' inildli 



Th* CD C9>«n 0I wet of >n*fmi ol. *it p t o f/ m i utm . rhc uiar. iha 
cr»ol»w» and ■!«■ flauiir wJ fmd whm rtwy am l^oLrt^ Fv On *h>i 
CDtOM than on mo^ |haiwww» pfogi'ai^i, torn* 1^ ihmm or d 
IfMCMt p(>C«. if jnw gX rsgulVrwl Ilmw nag SlHip«ihil«F tot dlO ■ 
DM |m»»kmI pf 50 DM). M 9dd<IWA to A^ lh«^ u o 50 MB Mac 
pOfWW*!, Id fKal iflju can KtnrT [Jaywifl araHi>«d w* M« oppfacoMotki 
rtijlM □wajr rhm ihtf i) i«e>4rHay«r ler ?0 ■ DM Ciii'rod qF 30 
DM], (her* i^ha, c4 covria, Irndt d( rw>diitH wrth <l. t4 i^iOl jnM (4/1 
try « (ighl owoy AmiWu,, |h» Mw XH-Mavvt lor lh» Amigo a 
Qva-lobla h>r 340. mi»ma^ of SJO Tou un tq v* itmx* l»>aa IOC 
Dm wrtrtt rtiii CD iWtlof* yov only hav* U Mnd in itw oppraprioX 
poga m itta baokla)' to iha <?irfhv qI lh« pmgiom n4 91 




Magic Publisher 

On ihn unM|iia C&4tOM ^ you wil tHkd al |>ou n«*d W C>*tM n>c« 
iookmg dotun n nH, H yov 'wenr to w^ 11 booV. ^ r™* v*™* '° c^niyn 
a pmN*. i inxf wwil to irratM WWW-Po^at fof «t« M*m«» w byMif 
a FHOf^iin*. ijll yoi. n**d jnJv w.B knd on Hlw i^t^wlmii CD-BOW 
Thxi-a ma mnnm tKnii IQOOO Fonh ICoktur fv^, B>*tkv fonlt. 
Ifffonn. Advbt F^ntt, InitMonii. Tiw»»rp« FDcti and tiMf Fonii). 
moia rtKw 5.030 ctpnm and 1S0 prmtw dfft«fi Mony of iliwa era 
wdvKva te M«g« Pvblrthaf You i^tl a\io find o conplaxa 
nttoAotan of hnTax Imon Ihin iJOO Mft|. ccttwniTig oN iH Fonh 
[vpio 600ir6tK) ^i| In «rd»r ie <i*aim Qood lookmg ilocumaoli, 
iWa M Fmd IMitar 4 $£ ond Wont'^or*! J n? Both rat*d a> I*m 
b•l^ word pfotativi V< tha Aimgn for craal*ig< good looLiivg 
lrri*fla*WWWOocian«ili tW* or* gl 4.<»leW« ha#/ &haa«ra(a 
propionu kt th« Amiga, '"^iuctMg ntoAy bciclfpounili aiwt tpacal 
cUfJorr tm ltM» porpoM TSa lOO* pOQM booUt) CWrtSfm pOMOiA ol 

dl foNb and chpen Aipooof BAS sKton <» oltp pfo«d«d C49 95 



\vii(;\ 




i ly\ 1.1 



Amiga 
Developer CD vl.l 



Tki oHk^ d*v*4(ip*' CD 'Irwn AmiJO TKhnubgiai cQnlQir.i aM Ffa 
1 ro ilorl dnaloping K^tMQfa ^AiTngs £iMKpuitn 
I CMS id«w*lafHr pdcbuga In dddi^ Ip lti« 
ffrvimi' 'IWa ibiik lal (fcilnbiAon ,A3u »J Find ih* 'BtfJdCD' C D wrttw 
p9eko9t F«ckog» eo<i(ribv«pd by Ird portm T>w WB^giti and 
AdKinFSSM pnckogn. covr^ly of ■olpJh Bdbal, Ih* Enwy v} D 
-rftvitleptr yi, eovrlwy cif lAM, tnc , Th» iN«t tZi d«^l4p4r ki«, 
MfUKMi 3. cowrMiy flJ Iw U fwgftt. |nc . TSa Kakaltmtv pochcig*. 
<«4nHy ol Artfraki Schmidl, Hia fnFiHcar v3?64 co>,trt«iy ^ Mika 
Stru: IrAifmation m Ufpp^rt sf ^IxgMing «pari*Hr^ lyifam 
drnftiaprnv^t AddiftOi^Ol dv>«k>pw t»[i>M'a3 (IOOF^I gad^r ond 
«i£q7a dcMMi, Hw .^intgoOS ? 0^ •Kom^ «odi, « perr d the 
onynol 2 -04 Noma D*««k)fMf Kn. Tha BKM ? 04 cofh •HonplAi, 
Iha CdnaplaM Ml of m^uU^rvd 'FF Pomit, ]FF aaarnpl* and stmt loti 
Mvf. AK IFF pKkogai. fti t i aw d by Conmndor* Amiga. Inc . C9»«<«tg 
1916 Ifcnw^ 1M3, TKt «)n»d -371 WIOl (l«va4ot>ar ka. Ih. 

$AHA.|| *lo«d(Kd podUft* find d>n(D|iar U. TKa ln|Kllk< ^4] ] 
pockoga InlafncAoftQl ii^ppocl noltnel Sa«ipt* ta^ uung Tlw hilt 
lSO-8B59'1 ehdraiMf mi, TmukAm qmmMihpi Th« gpdo<*d 3 i 
Nonva bawalopvr Xit "C ond ouofikWy bnguoga Iwodai Filar 
htkw Ofkd fvn»>r>« ibmnal; iyilum 6acum»rH*ton grwl iU<«riO> taah. 
EnntipJa coda covfinng tha AlMgS OS 11 <md 3 1 laatumv l\m 
M»<NtFF v3f pocbogia, Hm Afnt^a^uida ond Do>liaTn>ai 



(oSKiKM of ArMguGn-da Vohima b orM^H. «oii«rtng ^ing 1987 
ihrnu^h Jonuciry/FwbrvVr I^B^. TKl C«i*>ph«i AifVi^MHda VoLma 
7 arKcbi "i Af>>fgtiG«id* furimri. canarmj jgmi/Qry/TobriiO'y 1990 
«HW.g^ Mgrch/Apnl 1993. olio PKlvdKt Dfa rita jmwtdbU luuM « 
foaScnpl (nd PooaSlFBain fomat Hor^xw rololad 0<IkI»i. Tha 
tneWn^-AviodlKtihAMiBaCoKlaFw-nar £14.95 





Aminet Set 1 Meeting Pearls Vol. Ill 



Aminar it i*ia -wCMld i larga*! edlrchon {^ Iravly d-stributabla Amiga 
lothfDra Up Id IDOOO v*»^ kc*u rt«» vQ^ a<C^'vat ^rmiy io^ 
Q«id fOuMWi. |»n>gtoniinwi pwUih d^rvaty ma Atmnri ifoM i*can»l)i 
occaki- lo Afliinal imii railndvd tg inlitn g hOf^ mhwork ukWl, Wjh 
AmMtot M I.. fon^iMg ^ 4 CDi. iha tonpUta vchiva <i pubWtad 
Iha linMinM Tki] CP40M<oAKl«n, m^n^ n doiad Januory I99S. 



wida ^tarmtf of pro^ivn* a mdv^ad A|i>plKabOfi>. Gomn. Damot. 
hctw^ai Modi. AjimiMon*. Dwvalopw MolantJ If csntomi 

BfTpronncdaly A Diggbym ol wbtawa in I? JOO drchnM aid yow 






Aminet Set 2 



AMINrr 5fT 2, iJi3<«d NewMaJMf 1 995. conuiti of oppro^irr 
Bigobytmi ol uifrMira in 1 3 006 orchnai WliaiKi* ^ou Ua « 
iKini. .gomai. <OAiMiiin>CD«DA» 6t (M&yDWHwng, iKa ^ET grKn 
y(Mi naad Eaiy to uta ii^d w ''1*1 ^nd iaO'if'^ Foirlihai 
OCcawnQ ■! a plaauita C34 95 



^ AMINEr 




Aminet Set 3 



AMINiET S€T X 4al«J Jii^ 199$. i;onKm «i| approtMHMtr 4 

g>9^>ytai ol teftHOia -in 9 000 wc^iwai Alia incliNkd wa Ml 
«riiQfil ol taioQina 4 0, K-PoirH 3 J, DrtqMED 5 flftd IM* 
coMimotuol go«A«l Whalhar ynu lika [ipfilicahoni. jomaiv 
coCTimuHMnliani or p#oya»T.m.ng, tK* 5tT grvM yOv ol yOu nawd 93 
MB Ul>t^. 79 MA CkKur^nH 40fl M& Hod !ohw9f» 13 Mft 
DuVHD hwtl, 7 MB H«dwon ralgtod. 736 MiB PwTuni & 
AlwnotiOftl, 201 MB Gr nph.i:! K)f>win. 394 M$ OnjfJtiK* t KWnd 

dMiMM, 563 MB Gritwm* tyi M» M>Kalb>n*ovi. 6B3 MA Muk 
"NKlk4*L 78 MAMuwc lo'fvnHa. 139 Mfi ComnuiuctfvnK 9 1 WB 
S^iwgra BS Mft Bv»>n»w tohwoia Eaty » 
icFi Fncil-rtai [Miik« mccawing ii e pl*0ivr* CJ9.9S 




Gamers' Delight II 



t>M CD WHBm 1070 geiKOi lot ifv CarranodDiia Airffif FiQin diHar- 
■n^ Ldiyunei Action. Kfmp 4 Imvi. Co^d Go»»*i, Pulriai Srrotagj 
Gam» - a «4mi1| IWiga ol CCMAfnUar aniartiiinBHinl nwotil Gpnvii 
DaHjIir wll haU yoi ci?plrralKl ^ h^vci ond SWIfOfiWai k»ig4ai» 
•>9 pl«Otv<a 70 garmti tva conwnaMml vmniani im pubbq dormixi 
& no dwrwuF Tki CD con ^ nm on on^ Am^o wiTh CDdOM 
dina,l MBIraaiHaKKiry Di*dJoythck/Jciyp«d E^-d 9.S 



rha Uaaing Poarii VeAv*n» 111 cAMomi. 650 MB of iha hiaif fD mA 
wora v)o o ipacKil uiar inl»rfoc*. ivfiieh Ftqi baan cragl^d to t/Moiw 
you to liivjl Iha piogrotn ol yovr cFrnKa WT*ti aaia Tka conlaMi. 10 
MB f^lm. Crimchai. Anchna Prcfn^mt 3 MB CDJIOM l^hlihat 
21 MA Co<«i'TKin<et«i« a«d Nahivod Pragrnimt S MB Dab^igging 
looh 39 MB Davalopmvnt Tooli 13 MB Floppy. Hold Duk WM 
5C^ Proqiatut S MB CdMroHomil fii>granu 9 MA Comai 35 
MB Graplwci Prograiru 39 MB IntwnM Mcr»ia fM^ho**. Updo W d 
V»f|.on 7 M8 M4k Tooli Qr>d ^n»9<OAii 27 MA Modi 13 MA 
Muuc Progfcuni. 31 MB Picturai 13 MB AntnTCP ond iwxa Fi>> 
M*ht«rkH<ig 'frO MB Docv«nrn««.o<i, C'D-KOM DcA^nui, Bie 96 
MB I^TaX I 4 not |Mavioui OMMloblt an on^ C&I^OM 15 MA 
UllUi«v| 30 MB HTMl'FNi^i Ci*t<.iK>rn ijS dat-ctfrTiai. barvctwrtcwk 
ptogmmi, tcani, progromi hp« Qmiota^ir radio nnd HtlKlr<cal/«llC' 
trO'»<»ft^awinga'aalic.irvrli.ded r9 55 




Aminet 12 





/.? 


^^s^ 


^.;4' 


/^ 



Aminet 13 



Amnal CD t3, doMd AwguX 11996. Lontiiti {J^ a 
pgabyMs ol acA^gr* m J40D archmfi S«Ka Ih* raiooM ol .AiTM»wl 
CD I? >mota Aoa BOO MB n«w lolrwar* Fm i^ipaaiwj TFm CMrroHl 
•(kfton ku a ip*c>gl Focirt on oniMeitoni, Vf**^ hifid*»d 



< v» CI4 93 



ln,^ ujf*iwo<a "Wk*! iHi Am.Aito CD I] a (JfaflMi 



E-Poinf 



XiPaint V4 



XrPoiMi 4 n tha .taw vM-wan cl vKa laa^tg *d<ga, 24-b>i povt 
progiom Ifi. tuoad to thi damondi fA novica ond vxpari oUfca and 
'H^riitn o iLh«n iMna. yow loo »^ b« obla to piodwca colouaM and 
ciwMm art m 3'6 ft nHlt>Dn cabun Thai wa>«ron ol Kitoifli laoturat 



OvOfvww ol FaahHBL Dmafia poMt ^mckonk inclu<W>g colour 
conkott end teiW0i«n odjvitnaM Mail, chi4na. rocolowi and FiJI 

lunchani AiiltriMh Mill oAfwOtiB^ ■P'V;' lunCKO«» lighMobla 

IvAftion lof wKi*^>4tmft g nwilo^ai OAd onotw^om Taaf huKbon* 
wrth ORlMilming UMng CompugtEiphac lord Support hoa a vaiwf]r' ol 
grophtc lonnou Unlmw H d Undb Dn>arM moMpglotian ol olpFn 
diannal Suppixn aony gfophic cor^ loyvn to comBmo diH***M 
pro^Kn Alaxi pofi Drag A Drop cobwn EiMraal ^Aw modkria 
Eittanuva documonKrifon 60 taabrsi. SQ hmdwopai, 30 othn 
piCMi*! and mar^ (onn includad C49 95 




Mods Anthology 

D^ yaw Ilka Muk) [j>d you like CD(iipu*n>t' Oo you bta 
C»mpwl*(-M«Kl Th«n Ihii co>aelkon ,% wImM j'Oy naadi 4 CDtowi. 
hiN of MuMC MtHJuhil Mota ihon iSOOD nvodt oF nrtf lormot 
(MOD. S3M.KM n.AAiga S^nihoftei 1 <qI| MX'lwd by Com^MMn m 
prion^. bf Gnfupa Tl>an by Kndt. aU tkxad in tHKompiauad form, 
paodkibta un^r oil Iha «nO|0« ploilo<*i% Cotung olonf vdit 1 1 MB ci 
Modula t»H I'ASCtl. A^iUgoCuida | and 35MA of UotUa naf»% 
and Iro^kon Foi nwny caaip*i^n Biili qt ad w* •*«• W Qjra*n»0*« 
Fion tnora than 200 nwwctant >|K: and AnnQa 5cBna| who prmtAmd 
IM *ntti a pn^onol inlohia ond pK*V<«, Ot ■»• Ol many pravu^iFy 
unrtlMtad' niDduWiiEiri^ ihii. 7-yvati ntomc wmil h'apars to liiNn 
h» 10130* howfi ol MuiKl t39 95 



iNETHrara 


^^ 


3FFLINE 1 




y 



nietlUews Offline Vol. 1 



NpiNowi OHItib Vol I II ihB h'll «.ik o^ o rvflw i>'nor'l«,' publu»>MJ 
»r.H d Anu^D CD >OMii «h.< h c:inM>ni oU Aifwgg-rakM.^ naw» 
fliOyiK f"&W iF^ •n»«in»" tfBii, ^olu-ne *kiH!'»i 'sbcnrt 50 000 
oiticlici wht^ cDMatn Fk>i tumojri intporignl -nlomghon oboul ol 
nipvch ol itw Amago. .pieit-iaWalait cFacuunnl and fl a ma won. 
A n«nvoo(hr n includad 1SialN*H« ONU» n iht fhaop olH n- Bln n i 
i^aaBnguitoifch vnfh Uwrwr C14 Q5 



All products are available in your local Amiga-shop 
or through national mail-order-companies 

International Distributor: 







GTI 
Granville Trading Jnternationol GmbH 

Carl-Zeiss-Str. 9 

79761 Waldshut-Tiengen ■ Germany 

Tel +49-7741 -83040 

Fax +49-7741 -830438 

EMaih CompuServe 100336,1245